001[Music] when you're doing [Music] indication Mine mine's working but I have a backup plan good evening if you could all join me in standing for the invocation led by Dr Allan and then our Pledge of Allegiance let's pray father we uh just pause right now we recognize your presence with us um we need to demonstrate your humility uh Your Grace Your Love uh we need your wisdom as we make decisions tonight as well so uh we yield to to you and your love for us in your son's name amen amen thank you Dr Allan and if Jaden Brooks could come lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance Jaden you can come right up to this Podium see where the microphone is the podium that way we can all hear you all right whenever you're ready
002I pledge it allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you you may be seated and we will now call this board meeting to order Jaden how's it going good thank you so much for leading Us in the pledge this evening are you enjoying your summer yes ma'am what's your favorite thing about summer um going on field trips um awesome so I hear you go to Inwood Elementary School and how old are you I'm nine nine that means you're what grade I'm going to fourth grade you're going to be in fourth grade that's awesome so what is your favorite subject in school math math that's listen I like a numbers guy that's awesome
003and I hear you like to fish where do you go fishing lake Spirit Lake Spirit very nice and what do you want to be when you grow up do you know yet major league baseball player very nice I like it what position do you play Short Stop short stop that's what my brother played so are you what's your favorite MLB team jampa Bay Ray of course local guy well thank you so much for coming and leading Us in the pledge tonight did you bring any special guests with you yes ma'am can you introduce us to them my mom my grandma and my principal awesome well thank you so much for bringing Jaden out especially over the summer great and and you're gonna invite us all to come see your first MLB game right all right
004I'm counting on you awesome well thank you so much Jaden um just a couple housekeeping before we get started if you have a card and have not turned it in to speak you need to do so right now any cards that are not collected in the next couple minutes will not be on our list to speak speak this evening so if you have a card please turn it in as soon as possible um the second is we need to make sure that we're keeping the doors clear in the back so if you are standing please keep out of the aisle way um for safety reasons as well so our first order of business will be to accept the Schoolboard agenda superintendent hi do we have any revisions Madam chair we do item D2 approved minutes
005of the May 9th 2023 work session meeting minutes were added item F number one under new administrators there was updated attachments in list to the list uh item R number nine fsba board of directors appointment an item was added R number 10 fsba advocacy appointment item was added item U number one authority to advertise a public hearing on the naming rights and fee structure for school district facilities was moved to the July board meeting and then finally Item B number three The pcps Pride Proclamation was removed I'd like to go ahead and speak to that issue of my May at this time Madam chair members board so this is the second time now in a short period of time where we've removed a proclamation due to a lack of procedures um and inconsistency in our
006practices board members you have before you a document that shows the Last 5 Years of analysis of all of the various proclamations that have been read by pul County Public Schools you'll note that for national school counselors week over the last 5 years we've only recognized them once you'll also notice that for Black History Month we've only recognize that month three out of the five years same is true for Hispanic Heritage Month national school counselors week excuse me I already covered that one the lgbtq history month has been done interchangeably along with pride month the recommendation is not to pull and eliminate the pride proclamation in all Al together the recommendation is to move it to October to allow us an adequate time to address and create a proper procedure for the sub submission review
007modification and approval of proclamations going forward also School library month we only recognize that two out of five years Child Abuse Prevention month four out of five years safe sleep Awareness Month one out of four years Career and Technical Education Month one out of five years Red Ribbon Week Red Ribbon month three out of five years you see the pattern emerging part of the other issue here is there are numerous other groups that are worthy of recog Mission as a school board I did research to determine whether or not there's any policies or procedures that currently exist there are not not even not within our own School District nor are there policies and procedures for proclamations in other school districts there are within municipalities so deferring to them and looking at theirs part of the
008problem that we have is not only a process with procedure but again how do we ensure that our proclamations are reflective of all of the values and or and groups within our community months that have been completely ignored in our school district to date include women's History Month autism acceptance month de History Month asian-pacific Heritage Month National American Heritage Month mental health awareness month and National National veterans and military's families month so moving forward the recommendation to the board is that we develop a policy we have reached out to Neola for assistance develop a short policy that will ultimately direct my office to create procedures for how we will proceed with proclamations would have rules I I've I've drafted some for you here where a proclamation would have to be submitted within 30 days it
009has to include the name of the individual who will be present at the meeting it has to be a local community group I mean these are again our draft recommendations we'll have further conversation about this in J in July however I don't want the community to believe for a moment that we are eliminating the pride Proclamation month that is not what's being recommended here we were not in any way let me clarify this for the record we are not contacted by any group and nor was there a request to remove it I simply did it as a matter of procedure and policy In fairness to everyone else and many of the concerns that we've heard about proclamations aren't necessarily about the topic being discussed it's Pro it's a problem that it's not equable for all
010groups and we're not reflective and honoring all groups within our communities and our community standards that we want to uphold and so I assure the groups here I've assured the board I have every intention on bringing this back in October I'm now stating this on as a point of public record but it's not about excluding this it's not about avoiding the topic it's simply about making sure that we can move forward with a process and procedure that makes sense and is legally binding and again allows us to ensure that proclamations are reflective of our core values and beliefs and support all of our students and community members equally so I appreciate the time and opportunity to clarify that this evening Madam chair members of the board thank you superintendent Hyde any other revisions there are
011no other revisions ma'am seeing none I'll hear a motion to accept the agenda for this evening's meeting move to AC accept second Dr Allen and Miss Miller any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I any opposed and the motion carries I'll now turn it over to superintendent Hyde for special recognitions yes ma'am Madam chair at this time I'd like to invite Miss Kay fields to step down for this evening's Rec recognitions and would miss Emily mrea gifted trst come forward to be re to recognize two students who awarded the scobby scholarship for gifted Mr Williams since you're at the the back door would you assist me by calling the halls for Miss Mista Emily Mista is Miss C Miss Crowley present here she comes thank you Mr Williams good
012evening Miss Mista good evening I'm excited to share that each year the scobby scholarship which was founded in honor of dick scobby he was the commander of the Challenger when it exploded um each year they select two gifted students out of the whole state this year PP county has both [Applause] recipients Autumn Ellis is a Frostproof middle senior just graduated from there and is planning to go on it's going to be attending South Florida State um college at Avon Park she's her focus is going to be in the medical field right here [Music] [Applause] Devin irwine who also went to um Frost Proof middle senior but ended up graduating at Collegiate is going on to USF at St Pete to study history so very excited to have the winners from P County with us you
013want say bring oh yeah we got family out there are your family here in the room with you oh they I don't know they right we bring family could we please come down and join your children we're going to take a picture first without you then we'll have you join your child oh okay thank you culations than congratulations [Applause] again and next at this time I'd like to invite Janette Crowley director for strategic planning and Partnerships to please join us in order for us to recognize our focused on Excellence winners Madam chair schoolb members and superintendent Hyde thank you for the opportunity to share about the focus on Excellence program I'm excited to be here for our fourth and last focus on Excellence um winner recognition for the 2022 through 2023 school year today we're
014honoring employees within our custodial maintenance warehouse and professional technical positions focus on Excellence is a year-long campaign to Spotlight the important contributions of all P County Public School Employees each quarter the program will accept nominations for a different group of employees and a committee will select the winners to receive prizes from our generous sponsors as well as attend a special appreciation luncheon in addition to being recognized at a Schoolboard meeting they will also be highlighted on our district social media channels website and internal and external newsletters this year we increased the number of winners selected to 10 employees per quarter over the course of this school year we have highlighted 14 40 excuse me employees on June 1st we hosted an appreciation luncheon at the club at Eaglebrook which is also one of our program
015sponsors for the winners along with each Winner's supervisor District leadership and program sponsors all winners received a generous Prize Package courtesy of our dedicated and committed Partners the The Prize Package for each winner includes pcps logoed and Keepsake items along with a special student created vase award the beautiful vase award is custom etched by the students at gauze Academy I'd also like to recognize um our sponsors for this program we have Chick-fil-A hand and stone massage and facial spa idx which is formerly image Depot Express sign gypsies Rhino smash sauce company Mid Florida Credit Union public supermarkets inks Mosaic CPS investment advis advisors and Dixie Southern Industrial Inc thank you to these business partners who constantly support the work of our school district and who have graciously come alongside us making this campaign successful due
016to their support we're also able to give every pcps employee who is nominated through this program a special gift as well now I would like to highlight each of our winners that were selected this quarter Mr Alex from Boswell Elementary is a custodian he could not be here with us tonight but I do want to share what he shared with us and what he loves most about his job in working for p County Public Schools he says yes my job is a custodian however what he really enjoys is interacting with the children in the cafeteria Alex is proud to share that he made a vegetable garden at the school so that the students have an extra Hands-On activity he really enjoyed his job because he gets to help his teammates and provide excellent customer service
017to ensure everyone is happy so can we please recognize Mr [Applause] Alex Lis garito come on LS all right Mr Lewis is the head custodian at Bridge Technical College he loves the interaction he has with the staff and students every day he's thankful to pcps for providing the focus on Excellence Employee Appreciation opportunity for all employees we'd like to say congratulations and thank you for what you do for p County Public Schools we appreciate [Applause] you next we have Michelle Riley she could not be here with us tonight but she is the head custodian at Sleepy Hill Elementary she loves helping create a safe and clean environment for all students and staff so congratulations to miss Riley Keith Longley Keith is a custodian at Daniel Jenkins Academy what he likes about working for p County
018Public Schools is that it gives him the opportunity to do a job that helps people and allows him to provide a clean environment for all staff and students to enjoy thank you Keith for being here tonight we appreciate you I'd also like to thank all the families that have come out too for our winners because I know it takes time to come out um to attend and recognize but we do appreciate all the administrators and the staff as well as the um support of the families that have come out tonight too Rema Lesley Rema could not be with us tonight either but Rema is a head custodian at Rochelle's School of the Arts Rema respects her job and role she plays for p County Public Schools she said sure it might be a dirty being
019a custodian however she loves when she finishes the job and the teachers are happy she said keeping Rochelle School of the Arts clean is top priority for her and she always goes above and beyond even if there are school events on the weekends or someone calls and sick she is there the faculty and staff and her custodial crew are like family her brothers and sisters and together everyone creates a welcoming environment she said working for p County public schools has allowed her to support her children and pay her bills she has been able to help her son who is now a pharmacist through college pcps was her first employer when she entered the United States and she says she stays because the position gives her purpose and to push through the challenging times in her
020life I'd like to say congratulations to miss Rema David Morales head custodian at auale senior high David said he loves the sense of community and family that they have at auale Senior High and this makes his job easier to love thank you for loving your job David and thank you for what you do for p County Public Schools we appreciate you thank you our next winner is Dennis Floyd who is a computer service technician in our eers or electronic equipment repair and support division he could not be here with us tonight however I would like to share his favorite part of the work he performs is being available to help others when possible he enjoys making people's day a little better if feasible for him pul County public schools has been all about working within
021a team environment one of his favorite aspects has been gaining knowledge and at the same time working with great people he's honored to be a part of the electronic equipment and repair and support team congratulations Dennis ready Daniel Daniel Smith come on up Daniel is a carpenter in our maintenance services lw9 shop and he's got his team with him I love it so what Daniel said is that he loves seeing the kids faces light up with a big smile when you fix something in front of them that they thought was impossible he said it makes his day and makes him smile every time thank you Daniel for what you [Applause] do our next winner is DD Wright who is senior coordinator of special programs in migrant education and the Hearth project she could not be
022here with us as well tonight but DD truly enjoys working for PK County Public Schools and what she loves the most about her job is the daily opportunity to make a difference and provide needed assistance to our students and their families seeing the smiles of gratitude hearing the voices of confidence and seeing the academic successes are constant reminders of what she is here for congratulations to Dei and our next winner is Greg White who is a warehouse Foreman in warehousing and distribution okay Mr White started working for p County Public Schools over 41 years ago he said since day one it's been a family oriented workplace he enjoys working with a variety of employees and being able to assist the schools with essential items such as Food Supplies furniture and other materials that our students
023need thank you for your dedication and commitment for over 41 years Mr White we appreciate [Applause] you all right we're congratulations again to each winner um I want to say um enjoy the spotlight because we will start highlighting you over the summer so uh community and family look for that on our social media channels because we love putting the focus on our employees um and then also um continue to keep following us on our social media channels and and um website so thank you so much for your time job Janette Madam chair that concludes special recognition for this evening thank you superintendent Hyde next is public comments public comments for items on the agenda to be voted upon as adopted at the start of this meeting before we begin I'd like to welcome the public
024and go over our public comment process and opportunities for this evening we will have two opportunities for public comment this evening the first will be for this even items on the evening's agenda to be voted upon at the end of the meeting we will also have an additional opportunity for public comment on items that are not on this evening's agenda to register to speak community members must fill out a 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 will hear a beep when your time is concluded as a reminder public comments are an opportunity for us to hear your thoughts and comments this is not a question and answer session however if you are seeking
025additional information I encourage you to contact any of us or the superintendent office outside of board meetings and we would be happy to have deeper conversations before we begin just so that we can can move through these we'll ask there's a little red line over here so if you are on deck if you can make your way to the red line um just so that you're close by when we call your name so first will be Bobby D's and on Deck is Glenda White whenever you're ready hi my name is Bobby here about consent L Human Resources subject for the approval of a contract with Epi educational Partners International in amount of $750,000 and consent agenda n learning support subjects five and six the approval of two contracts with Stepping Stones group one for $92,200
026the other 12 for a total of $553,000 several phone calls I was able to discuss subject 4 with the contact person uh agenda n five and six the contact person has yet to get it back with me I'm using these three subjects as examples of non-transparency of what's in them there are many others in the consent agenda as well as I said at the last meeting there are many unanswered questions that the public may have especially when it comes to a breakdown of expenditures the who what where when and why and how should be included the file attachments or descriptions at present there is basically no transparency in the consent agenda and at best is ambiguous the complexities of these agendas deter the common citizen or parent from further examination and investigation Mr Hyde your
027lack of transparency raises a red flag which leads me to believe you don't want the public to know or understand what you're spending taxpayer dollars on justify what you're spending put the information out there to start with answer basic questions the public wants and should have now if you can't get it right online you could open the doors on Q&A on the agenda during the school board meeting which would make the me meeting last till midnight or have a separate meeting before the school board meeting involving Q&A between the agenda the contact persons and the public I don't think either is feasible Mr Hyde I think if you did this lack of transparency for a private company you'd probably get fired as for myself I think you ought have resign thank you Mr de next
028is Glenda white and on Deck is EMT pervis hi I'm Glenda white resident of Winter Haven regarding a consent agenda K subject one the softball field project at hannes City High I was very concerned when I saw the price tag of $2.2 million for this project and called the contact person she told me that she couldn't discuss it and sent me to public relations I asked Mr Gary for a cost breakdown and he supplied the information to me and then after review and research I approve of the project I suggest would that you should include project planning and cost breakdowns for every project on the consent agenda or action by attachment to save time phone calls but most importantly to build trust with citizens for all your projects at the May board meeting the entire
029board except Mr Niti voted to approve over $38 million in spending all at once having provided very limited and vague information the board could be more effective by providing detailed information before voting take most most of these items off the consent agenda and vote on them individually consent agenda items should be more routine in nature the contact person we were given for these projects should be able to discuss and give us answers when we have questions money whether from the school budget or grants comes from taxpayers we live and work in a horrible economic situation thanks to our current presidential Administration yet we willingly pay taxes with the expect ation that you'll spend responsibly and return Grant monies that are not needed if you want to develop a sense of trust with citizens please be
030transparent and act responsibly with our money further I want to thank you for removing the pride Proclamation from this agenda it was the right thing to do it's a shame that veterans and those who died in service agenda items only I have to stop after that that is not well I want to thank you all for doing it I do appreciate it thank you thank you Mr pis just to confirm this is for an agenda item there's not one listed on Madam chairman I'm going to defer to the end of the meeting okay thank you all right and next order of business will be to approve the minutes for the May 9th Schoolboard meeting so I will hear a motion to approve the minutes from the May 9th 2023 Schoolboard meeting [Music] second I have
031Miss Miller and Miss Fields any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I any opposed and the motion carries the second set of minutes we have is to is the May 9th 2023 work session minutes and I'll seek a motion for approval of those work session minutes so move second Dr Allan and Miss Fields any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I I any opposed and the motion carries next we will have our consent agenda I'll seek motion to approve the June 13th 2023 consent agenda move to approve the consent agenda I'll second that Miss Miller and Dr Allen any discussion I have discussion for the consent agenda just a discussion Miss Miller um I just want to point out on the consent agenda um
032the ESC Community we've heard a lot about Services um we've had a shortage in speech therapist um specifically speech but also otpt you'll see in the to the agenda where we are trying to address those concerns by Contracting Services out if you watch the work session you'll see a detailed explanation of how we're going to look at the expense of those contracts and our current salaries to see if if if there's enough resources to us for us to raise the salaries for those positions and bring people in house because that's ideal but right now we have kids going without services and so we're doing everything we can to make that make sure their needs are being met and we're doing this by those contracted Services thank you Miss Miller any further discussion seeing none all
033those in favor please signify by saying I I I I any opposed and the motion carries superintendent Hyde I'm almost afraid to ask the question do we have any new administrators we do have several new administrators as well as those moving from acting Mr Williams if I could ask you again um because I know they're all out there or a majority of them are out there I'll begin with Chris Roberts principal at BTO Middle School who's being promoted to Regional superintendent of K8 schools come on down Chris you want say you want to say anything but I'm G to set the stage though because there's a lot of people I'm not going to talk a lot I just want uh say thank you to superintendent Hyde and Mr Green and the board for this opportunity
034to serve continue to serve the uh students in the schools of uh P County Public Schools um that's it thank you yes sir thank you congratulations like to bring down Dr Adrien Anthony principal at Kathleen Elementary School who's now being promoted to senior director for equity and diversity thank you so much to the Innovative uh superintendent high and to the illustrious school board thank you for this opportunity I want to say thank you to my family my wonderful wife and children that are here to support me we are supporting uh we have a blended family of six kids who are supporting uh this the the FTE of the school ward in F County so thank you for this opportunity thank you sir next is Mr Ty Bruno formerly principal at auale high school I'm sure
035that was hard to part with who's being promoted to the acting senior director for school improvement over high schools first of all I'd like to thank superintendent Hyde all the board members as well also Mr Green and Miss Collins for the opportunity it was definitely a difficult decision to leave Auberndale high school it's home um but I'm looking forward to all the challenges I'd like to thank my wife couldn't be here tonight she's at a case conference down in Bita springs for the district so I know she's watching live but I'd like to thank her for all of her support as well um also two of my former APS da Clark and Lindsey Graham is here as well to support me tonight thank you [Applause] congratulations Dr Curtis Williams director over labor and employee relations
036has now been promoted to senior director over Human Resource Services good evening Madam chair um members of the board superintendent Hyde I'm extremely excited to uh be able to uh have this opportunity to serve this district and this County at this capacity and also for an entity um and um agency I I'll call that an agency one that actually places students first not just as a slogan but as a lived reality an expectation a standard and condition so I'm excited I appreciate it thank you very much and with that uh being said time to get back to work thank you sir not with us to see evening is Dr paully Bruno formerly principal at Doris Sanders Learning Center who's now been promoted to acting director of instruction for ESC next is Brady Draper assistant principal
037at Churchwell Elementary School who's being promoted to principal at Carlton [Applause] Palmore okay so thank you um very much um it's absolutely a pleasure to become a principal for p County Schools more specifically Carlton Palmore Elementary I'd like to thank Mr Hyde and Mr Green and the board for their confidence in the entire process while entrusting me to lead from the community meeting community meeting to hear out the needs of the school um and the entire interview process um with Dr Henry um and Miss Daris they've both been extremely helpful during the transition I intend to carry on the Patriot Way focus on academic success and uh the Leader in Me program that has been effectively Incorporated into the school and its culture um I'd also like to thank my family for their support they're
038here tonight um I have my mom and daughter with me um I also do have my father um representing a dad ring that we bought for him years ago um from our uh from me and my siblings um to him um again thank you for this opportunity and as our students at Carlton pal Moray today a leader or today a learner excuse me tomorrow a leader go Patriots very good next is James Micah Edwards Horizon's Elementary School promoted to acting principal at Lena Vista Elementary first off I would like to thank God for his consistent love and grace for me my wife Andrew and the kids Amy heis Meers principal of Horizon's Elementary and the Horizon staff and uh Mr Roberts for entrusting me and Mr Hyde for this opportunity and as a product P
039County Public School educational system I thank you um so very much for this opportunity at Len vissa Elementary um go wild [Applause] cats Emily is it fight Emily fight assistant principal at Sleepy Hill Elementary School is now being promoted to principal at Cleveland Court Elementary right I am so honored and humbled to have this opportunity to serve as principal of Cleveland Corps Elementary I would like to thank everyone who has helped everyone who had a hand in helping me in my career walk thank you superintendent Hyde Mr Green our school board members and Dr Henry for entrusting me as principal of Cleveland cours Elementary thank you Miss rutenbar Miss cranic and Mr Dill for all your mentoring and helping me become the leader I am today thank you to my daughter and son Tori and
040bran and all my family friends for supporting me along my career path I look forward to serving all the students staff and families as principal of Cleveland Court Elementary and Sarah Beth my daughter is in Canada she got married and move but she went to high school with you and she text me Mom I went to school with Sarah Beth so anyway so thank you all congratulations wait your photo your photo this is like graduation they're so exced to leave they were just [Music] going next is my pleasure introduce Mr Jane Dwayne Johnson assistant principal at BTO middle who's now been promoted to acting principal at BTO Middle School I want to give honor to God who is first and foremost in my life I would like to thank this board for giving me the
041opportunity to serve Bart till middle in this capacity I give a shout out to my family who have always supported me no matter what I want to do uh and been the youngest of 10 that is very very important and I got three men that I think is worthy of mentioning who have helped form and shape my career Ty Bruno Chris Roberts and the one and only Mr Joe I just want to thank you for seeing something in me and believing in me and believing that I can do it and art to ghost sers next is Holly Melton assistant principal at stal middle who's now being promoted to principal at Doris Sanders Learning Community Learning Center excuse me I just want to thank everyone for this opportunity it's a privilege to work with the students
042and the staff at Doris Sanders so I'm honored and excited for the school year great [Applause] job next is Sarah Miranda assistant principal at Mulberry Middle who's being promoted to principal at Crystal Lake Middle School good evening I want to take this moment to thank the board superintendent Hyde and Mr Green for this opportunity to lead and serve in the Crystal Lake Community I also want to thank my previous and current Regional superintendent um Miss rollerson and Mr or Dr Henry um for their belief in me and giving me this opportunity also my previous principal who has been growing me so I have both in attendance Cindy celos and Terry Christian and they have believed in me and supported me to grow me into being ready for this and I'm so excited they're here to
043support me like they always have and for my family I have my husband Justin and my two sons bod and Mason here tonight and they're always excited to take this journey of public education with me and they support everything I do and without my team behind me I would not be here and be ready and I'm so excited that everybody has believed in me to get me to this point so thank you everybody for this thank you very good next is marleene tus assistant principal at wanetta elementary being wiita excuse me promoted to principal at Crystal Lake Elementary good evening thank you for having me today I want to thank the board superintendent Hyde Deputy superintendent green Mrs Barnes Dr Henry in the Community Partnership at Crystal Lake Elementary for giving me the opportunity to
044serve as your principal as I transition into my new role I find myself thinking about all the people that have impacted my life in a way that has led me to today it's too many to mention today but I have taken the time to call them and personally thank them I do want to publicly thank today my former principal my mentor my friend Miss kabaj for an amazing seven years of knowing you and learning from you you leave by example and are tremendously passionate for the work that we do I would deeply miss you and our Wanita Wanita family I also want to thank my husband Frank and our son JN Carlos for your love and support I would not be able to give so much to the career that I love without your understanding
045and support as I already told them this new role is a family affair and we're all serving crystal league Elementary and lastly to my sister Erica who also works for the school board I want to thank you for being a listening ear and always being there for me you're my best friend and I love the relationship that we have thank you for your support again thank you for the opportunity I'm looking forward to getting to know the staff the students and the community at Crystal Lake Elementary thank you [Applause] congratulations next is Miss Tracy Upton formerly assistant principal of Kathleen Elementary now being promoted to acting principal at Kathleen Elementary good evening thank you superintendent Hyde the board Mr Green and Dr Henry for giving me this opportunity to serve at Kathleen Elementary School um
046I first would like to start by thanking my family my beautiful daughter Aubrey who's a recent graduate pul County Public Schools um my grandmother Carol Atwell who is also an ESC retied teacher from P County Public Schools um I'd also like to thank my Aunt Sherry my Uncle Tim my cousins and Friends Melissa Melanie Rachel Ashley and Andrea for supporting me and encouraging me and being the backbone to the support that I need to be successful um and I would also like to thank my former administrators who have supported me along the way um Dr Hedley uh Joe MCN working with him was a a complete Joy Dr Adrien Anthony who has just been promoted um my principal Mentor Michelle Townley and of course my um dear friend and Mentor Mr Chris Miller um the
047catholing community has a very special place in my heart that is where I started my teaching career I did my internship there um and taught for 10 wonderful years uh and grew as as a teacher so I'm very grateful for Dr Henry's choice to move me back as the assistant principal last year and is now entrusting me to lead the school on to great um it's definitely a full circle moment for me especially because my daughter who is a graduate um attended Kathleen Elementary all six years so it's definitely home for me I know that Kathleen is going to be one of the top schools on the north side of Lakeland with the work that we have in store for them and we already have some of the best staff in the county so I
048can't wait for you guys to come visit and see what a wonderful place Kathleen Elementary is it's a small little school but it's beautiful and it's a rich part of our community so thank you again for giving me this opportunity I appreciate it very much congratulations next is Jennifer Martinez formerly the assistant principal at Lakeland Highlands Middle who's now being promoted to assistant PR or acting principal at Lakeland Highlands Middle or no sorry being promoted for she was start over let me introduce Miss Jennifer Martinez assistant principal level at Lakeland Highlands Middle who's now being promoted to assistant principal Lakeland Highlands Middle School congratulations thank you thank you Mr Green thank you superintendent Hyde in the board for having me here tonight thank you to my former principal Miss Wright Gainer and my current principle
049Miss Odin Jackson and of course my family who is here supporting me as well in the community of Lakeland Highlands midal and I look forward to serving them with the best of my abilities thank you congratulations not with us this evening is Kaylee Mullenix math coach at Lena Vista Elementary she's been promoted to assistant principal at Lena Vista Dr nikolina here I apologize go ahead sorry happy to be here actually um I want to thank uh superintendent Hyde Mr Green and the board members I'd like to take a moment to express my humble and honor how I'm humbled and honored to serve P County schools in this new role as assistant principal of Vista Elementary I would like to take a moment to thank all the outstanding administrators who have mentored me and supported me
050in my leadership Journey thus far I would especially like to recognize Miss sharp I cannot thank you enough for the opportunities and experiences that you have given me throughout my six years there at lenina Vista that have molded me into the curriculum leader that I am today I would also like to thank Mr gainy for being willing to let me work and learn alongside him you have both been an unwavering support to me that has guided me here to where I am today I'd also like to thank my parents as they've been behind me every step of the way and it all started with you instilling a drive and a love for learning within me thank you for your constant love and support lastly my fiance Phillip has been my model of resilience and determination
051I cannot thank you enough for your constant encouragement and reminders to always press forward in the face of adversity in closing I look forward to continuing my service to P County schools and this new role as assistant principal congratulations Dr nikolina muscala Howard did I get that correct very good Lea at Dennison middle has been promoted promoted to assistant principal at Dennison Middle School good evening everyone I'm very thankful for this opportunity to continue to serve um the students at Dennis Middle School in this new capacity I would like to thank Mrs Christian my principal who uh leads by example who always inspired and um encouraged me and um also would like to thank her for being that transformational leader that I hope I will become one day also I would like to thank my
052husband and my church family winter Heaven uh First Church of God for um all their encouragements and prayers and um uh least but not last um to our dennisa Middle School Community students and parents um I'm very excited for this this new opportunity and um looking forward for the next school year congratulations thank [Applause] you next is Mr Brian Hughes teacher at Winter Haven High School is being promoted to acting head of program at Winter Haven High School over our cfaa expansion program I don't think so okay the following administrators were moov are moving from being act their position and placement as acting to permanent Miss Beth Nave is moving to Regional assistant superintendent Alex mccluck is moving from is moving to appointed principal at Lewis and a Woodbury Elementary Swan Yetta Perry acting principal
053at Oscar J Pope is being appointed to principal at Oscar J Pope Elementary here Perfect come on down Swan I saw you there to the superintendent Deputy superintendent Madame chair and the board good evening I would like to thank God first my husband Mrs Barnes and Dr Henry for their support I am grateful for this opportunity and I look forward to many more years of service with pop County Public Schools thank you congratulations Maria ke Maria K Kira acting principal at pal medal Elementary is being appointed to principal at pal medal Elementary hello you got my last name right I know good evening practicing yeah I would like to thank God for guiding me through this journey as an administrator thanks to my husband Edgar my son I for um being patient and understanding I
054would like to also thank the board superintendent Hyde Mr Green Miss Barnes Miss Nate for giving me this opportunity to serve as principal AP P Meo I am honored and blessed to be here in front of you today I also want to thank the people who have supported me along the way um I would like to thank Miss Chipman who was my assigned Mentor through the new principal's program I'd like to also um thank Miss Bennett and my previous administrators John rodri chab and Peter who have trusted me and guided me along the way I would like to also thank the community of pometo um for all the love support and the most importantly trusting me and leading them today so thank you congratulations M robera Stinson who I saw standing in the back was
055previously acting principal at Griffin Elementary is now being appointed as principal at the Griffin Elementary School the Griffin ele element yes sir El I have a lot of people to think um first of all I'm a product of P County Schools I have 28 years in P County as my career um I've got the Poke transformation officer thing the school board huge operation here um my family's in the back I just thank everybody and there's nothing like the Griffin Elementary next is Miss next is Miss Carla wigs previously acting principal at Roosevelt Academy appointed to principal at Roosevelt Academy good evening it is indeed a pleasure to be here sorry um I thank God for this opportunity such an honor is truly uh a blessing um I would like to thank my husband Ricky wigs
056who many of you may know um my son Michael daughter Mariah who's watching um my parents who are here and my sister who is also watching for their continued support I especially I I want to thank the board and I especially want to thank Mr Hyde Mr Green and Mrs Collins for their support and confidence in me um I was asked to do a job and that is what I do every day my job I try to do it to the best of my ability and as a pastor's wife and as a principle I have to lead and lead by example a quote by an unknown author says if your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more learn more do more and become more then you are an excellent leader well I
057don't know if I'm that excellent leader but I am cons I am I aim to help others dream learn do and become more than they can imagine and with that I hope that my leading will not be in vain I am truly honored to receive this appointment as principal of Roosevelt Academy and as an eagle I look forward to Soaring to new and higher [Applause] Heights next is Miss Angela bird song assist acting assist assistant principal at Southwest Middle is now being appointed to assistant principal at BTO middle thank you all very much for this opportunity I would like to first thank my children who are watching online my daughter is a niku nurse so she's in Georgia my son is currently serving overseas so he cannot be here my other one is in Georgia
058hanging out and so I do appreciate this opportunity I'd like to thank Dr rollerson and especially Mr Roberts and miss Roberts um for always believing in me um All of My adoptive family that has come um to support me and Mr Johnson and Miss shidle who are going to believe in me and Lead Me Through BTO middle school so I appreciate the opportunity congratulations next is L Leandria Brown acting assistant principal at speard Holland Elementary being appointed to assistant principal at R Bruce Wagner Elementary good evening everyone first I want to give honor to God for opening up doors for me and giving me strength to go through this process I want to thank super superintendent Hyde board members um my regionals Dr Henry Miss nay for giving me and my new principal Mr Miller
059for giving me this opportunity to serve our Bruce Wagner as the new s assistant principal and last I want to thank my husband Glenn Brown my parents William and Joanne McKenna my mentors Miss Nikki Jones Mr Rodney Bellamy for all the support and um encouragement throughout this process thank you again congratulations next is Jessica Gavin acting assistant principal at Garden Grove Elementary being appointed as assistant principal at Gard Grove Elementary not present Katherine gont acting assistant principal at Lake Alfred polych Academy is being appointed to assistant principal at Lake Alfred polych thank you school board members and superintendent Hyde um for allowing me to serve our students um I'd like to take a a moment to give a special thank you to my principal Miss gross for taking a chance on me and giving me
060the opportunity to grow I would also like to take a quick moment to thank um Mr Roberts who was my mentor for the past year and finally I would like to thank my family um My Two children Chloe and saurin and my wonderful husband Stephen for supporting me through everything this year congratulations thank [Applause] you next is Christine Harrison acting assistant principal at Lewis Anna Woodburry being appointed to assistant principal at Lewis Anna Woodburry Elementary thank you superintendent Hyde Deputy superintendent green Madam chair and the board thank you for all of your support and dedication to our district and our students of P County and thank you for this opportunity after this past year the community of Fort me holds a special place in my heart and I'm honored to support and serve the students
061families and staff of Louisana Woodbury I'd like to take a moment to honor a few of my mentors that have helped me grow and develop into the instructional leader I am today my past mentor and principal Katherine Riley um sorry thank you for your patience and your guidance and being the perfect example of a servant leader my current Mentor Mr Dart Meyers thank you for being a soundboard this year and allowing me to talk out situations to find Solutions and my current principal Mr Alexander mccluck thank you for balancing my weaknesses and encouraging my strengths honestly I would not have survived my first year as an assistant principal without the three of them thank you to my previous super uh Regional superintendent Miss Barnes for taking a chance and placing me as an acting assistant
062principal I hope I made you proud thank you to my senior director Miss Baran for all your guidance and support this year I hope I made you proud and continue to do so in the next school year here thank you to my new Regional superintendent Miss naves for all the support and encouragement that you have already provided I pray that I will make you proud finally I'd like to thank my family my mom and dad everything I am today and everything I may be tomorrow is because of their sacrifices and I thank you for that my husband Blake you are my rock I thank you for your kindness and your love that you show every day and my beautiful daughter Stella for being my daily inspiration thank you Bor and go Lions congratulations next is
063Brenda norquist acting assistant principal at Highlands Grove Elementary being appointed to assistant principal at Highland's Grove Elementary good evening um I'm so honored to have the privilege to serve as the assistant president principal at Highland Grove Elementary I'd like to thank a few people who have helped me along the way thank you to our superintendent Mr Hyde Mr Green our school board members and Dr Henry for believing in me and giving me this opportunity thank you to my current principal Miss Lindsay culture my former principal and assistant principal Mr deal and Miss fight for giving me the opportunities to learn and grow into the servant leader that I am today thank you to my husband hband my sons and my work family for their support along the way and I couldn't have done it without
064you thank you your [Applause] picture and next is Brett WMA we WEA did not attend oh okay I got acting assistant principal at mulbury midddle is being appointed to principal assistant principal at Churchwell Elementary you almost got a promotion there almost listen really no I just I want to thank you guys all for the opportunity to grow um that's that's huge for me because it's been a busy three years you know getting to this point I want to thank the malberry staff they're they're not here today I know they're very busy um but for growing me as an administrator I was just a baby to start the year off and they pushed me and pushed me and I appreciate that um I want to thank my wife for all the nights of of breaking down
065classrooms and offices in the last few years um and just always be there for me so thank you very much I appre appreciate it congratulations sir there were several other administrative moves I'll announce I don't believe that they're here although I did say I did see a in the in the audience earlier earlier Todd Bennett previously principal at Westwood Middle School was transfer and took over as principal at auale high school I don't see him present with us Ronda Cotter principal at Crystal Lake Middle was transferred to be principal at Westwood Middle Jason Looney principal at tenar Rock High School was transferred to principal at Southwest Middle a Gainer Wright I thought I saw her earlier principal at Lakeland Highlands Middle is transferred to take over as principal at tenar Rock High School cibil odm
066Jackson is transferring from Southwest Middle School to take over as principal at Lakeland Highlands Middle yeah do you want to stand at least let us clap for you thank you and Denise sharp principal at Lena Vista Elementary is being transferred to be principal at stau Middle School please join me in congratulating all of those administrators Madam chair and the board that concludes new administrators appointments thank you thank you superintendent Hyde and it is exciting to have so many new leaders in our on our campuses this year next we will move to our action agenda and the first item is our Frost Proof Middle High School naming of the Fieldhouse and I will hear a motion to approve the naming of the Fieldhouse at Frost Proof Middle High Middle High School in honor of the late
067John denat so mov Mr sharpless second and Miss Miller any discussion Mr sharpless yes um I wanted to just read um my letter of support that I wrote uh for this um so let me read it Dear Mr Windam please accept this letter of recommendation to name the baseball Fieldhouse at Frost prooof Middle senior high school after coach John denat it is with great pleasure that I endorse the naming of the baseball Fieldhouse at froster middle senior high school after coach jady I understand that coach genady was very instrumental in developing a strong athletic Department in only in only the two years that he served our campus and after his death a few years ago his wife donated tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships awarded to seniors of three different high schools Frostproof middle
068senior uh and the Frostproof middle Senior High School athletic department I understand the frost prooof athletic booster club has endorsed the naming of the baseball field house after coach John denat accordingly I offer my recommendation and assistance in this matter without hes hesitation I understand that the recommen recommended naming is John denat Fieldhouse respectfully Justin sharpless thank you Mr sharpless any further discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I I any opposed and the motion carries and I believe there was going to be someone present from frost proof yes we have someone in the back from Frost Proof nice good evening uh my name is Chris Bal I'm the athletic director from frost proof middle senior high school and we just want to reiterate the the the words that Mr
069Sharp was saying uh coach denat was part of the frost proof middle Senior High School family for the years of 1973 to 1975 and in that time he left an indelible mark on the school students community and his athletes he was hired by Frostproof middle senior high school as a baseball strength and adding coach and as a social studies teacher during his time he was involved with the Nautilus which is a strength and weightlifting company and became heavily invested in new and innovative ways to train his athletes this is one of the ways he left his indelible mark on Frost Proof uh Frost Proof Athletics during his years as a baseball coach he led our baseball program to two District championships and one state series appearance because of his coaching methods his team became known
070as one of the hardest working and strongest in the state during the past three years the John denani Foundation has provided our students with the opportunity to attend the college by way of providing these students with Scholarships in those three years his foundation provided 13 student athletes with $54,000 to attend the College of their choice his foundation also donated $225,000 to begin the process of building the wonderful field house we have today his impact on students of P County and frost Pro began in 1973 but but his legacy lives on through the generosity of his wife and his foundation thank you thank you so [Applause] much next is R2 which will be the naming Building 47 the Science and Technology Building at BTO High School in honor of Adele Adele Allison I will now hear
071a motion so move second Dr Allan and Miss Miller any disc s who's presenting it seeing who's presenting somebody going to read something I believe not there's a letter from Mr Niti did you want to read your letter Mr Niti which one's this for one of us to this one go go down see that work worth it correct let me see not work worth the thing you have to vote first I can speak as he's getting set up house there it is Dr Allan you want to offer some comments first okay go ahead yeah I just want to just put a word out there I'm a proud graduate of BTO High School 1992 uh and she was actually one of my teachers and she has served so well within our district and it's a great
072opportunity to honor her tonight and her Legacy so Madam chair that's all I have thank you Dr Allan Mr Noti Dear Mr Hyde I have received a request from Dr lean Clemens principal for Berto High School to name Building 47 the Science and Technology Building in honor of Adele Ellison a longtime science teacher at the school Miss Allison has taught on the Barto high school campus for the past 52 years with a 30-day break in 2005 when she exited drop and immediately returned following the required Hiatus during her many years at the school Miss Allison has taught students attending all campus schools BHS IB at Barto and Summerland Academy over the past years Miss Allison has taught multiple students through biology environmental science and Anatomy as well as advanced placement um courses she has demonstrated
073her con commitment to Barto high school students through her dedication and determination to support them and see them succeed under her watch Miss Ellison has left quite a legacy at Barto high school and I support the naming of the building 47 on the campus the Dell Allison Science and Technology Center if you agree I'll request that the items be placed upon the Schoolboard agenda for approval thank you Rick Niti District three thank you Mr Niti thank you any further discussion yes I don't often comment but my wife graduated from BTO High School in 1980 and she had Miss Allison as a teacher of course she did anyone any further discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I I any opposed and the motion carries and we have someone here from
074BTO Mandy would you like to hi Mandy Craven head of school for IB Barto board superintendent hi just want to say thank you for honoring Miss Allison in this way um several people have already shared how she has impacted them personally um I think about the generations that she's impacted she was my mom's PE coach when she very first began her career at Barto high school it's so impressive to see someone that has been so committed to educating uh the students in P County specifically Barto high school for 52 years um while I was waiting I just did some quick math and it was approximately 8,000 students um 7500 to 8,000 um over the course of those 52 years and that is that is quite impressive so thank you very much again for honoring her
075in this way and we look forward to being able to have a ceremony at the on campus to actually um share with her and announce that that building uh is going to be our Science and Technology Building is going to be named after her so thank you thank you so much all right and next is going to be R three Dr NE Roberts dedication and naming of the media center for Mrs Charlene Richardson Brinson and I move approval second Miss fields and Miss Miller any discussion Miss and I would love to have comments I am very happy and very thankful that I have an opportunity to to share about Miss Charlene I have received a request from Mrs dorotha Yuan who is beautifully represented right there principal of Dr n Roberts Elementary School to name
076the media center in honor of the opening principle of Dr NE Roberts Elementary School Mrs Charlene Richardson Bron please find meeting minutes reflecting unanimous approval of this request from the school of advisory council Mrs Richardson Bron began her journey at Dr n Roberts Elementary School in 2002 as the opening principal and served in that capacity until 2006 prior to her assignments at Dr Annie Roberts Elementary School she served as a teacher assistant principal and principal of Blake elementary school after leaving Dr Anie Roberts Elementary School she served as the senior director of elementary schools for the school district before retiring in 2014 upon her retirement she was asked to serve as a school Improvement consultant in 2014 and served in that capacity for seven years Mrs Richardson Bron has never stopped supporting Dr Anie Roberts
077Elementary School through her time treasures and talents her love and commitment to the student staff and families of Dr Annie Roberts elementary school has helped to make the school what it is today Mrs Richardson Bron personally knew the lake Dr Anie Roberts and had an opportunity to honor his legacy while serving as the principal of Dr Annie Roberts Elementary School is with much respect and gratefulness that I request that the media center be named in honor of Charlene Richardson Bron congratulations Miss [Applause] Charlene s Beth I'm am sorry I was so excited we have Miss Miller is also on the speaker list Miss Miller I just want to say that I'm very pleased that we're doing this this evening U Miss Brinson was the first and only principal I worked for and so I can
078tell you that she was tough but fair and she has raised lots of folks even in the back there some of her teachers are here to support her and um it was a family at Dr enie Roberts and I was lucky enough because that she kept Dr Roberts involved he would come to our graduations when he was still with us and he taught the kids from his legacy and she continued that Legacy and I'm so thankful for this evening thank you Miss Miller any further discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I any opposed and the motion carries and I would [Applause] like thank you to our superintendent Mr hi Deputy superintendent Mr Green the board and my regional superintendent Dr Henry and the audience today I would like to
079say thank you first of all superintendent high for the opportunity to serve at the great Dr inie Roberts Elementary yes we do have teachers in the back that came with us and we have the late um Dr enie Robert's son Mr Ronnie Roberts in the back as well so if we can give him a big round of applause I won be labor but I just want to let you know that Mrs Phils read the accolades of Miss Charlene Richardson Brinson big shoes the FI but I also want to add that there is eight staff members that have been there we celebrated 20 years last year and those eight staff members that open the school with her are still there today so that is a wonderful feat those of us in education know how turnover can
080go so I'm excited to be the leader at this time and the hallway ways the media center the cafeteria everywhere has remnants of you miss Brenson and I want you to know that it is golden everyone remembers your leadership style so it makes it easy for me Mr Hyde everyone remembers that you stay to the plow and Dr enie Roberts will and is the great School in pop County so thank you so much for this opportunity and we are excited that this has been approved by the board thank you [Applause] good evening um superintendent Hyde Deputy superintendent Mr green board members thank you thank you thank you for this honor never did I think at this time in my life I'd be standing before the board again but here I am but I do count
081it an honor and a pleasure it was our intent and our duty when we were at uh Dr enie Roberts to work hard Excellence was what we stood for and excellence was what we received and so we saw a lot of accomplishments through our students our staff we were able to maintain a for 4 years while I was there and that's because of the dream team that worked there when I say that from the custodial staff to the kitchen staff to the instructional staff the paril staff everybody got in their work together parents supported us they even gave us money and I always overspent but that's what principles do but um it was a pleasure uh I thank you so so much it just lets me know and reminds everybody else that the hard work
082that you do really does matter thank you again God bless you [Applause] all okay you don't want to go down there I'm good thank you so [Applause] much thank you all so much and thank you Miss Richard Brenson for your your commitment to our schools over the year for all that you've done next we'll go on to R4 pulk State Lakeland Gateway to College Collegiate High School contract renewal and I'll hear a motion to approve the pulk state Lakeland Gateway to College Collegiate High School charter renewal contract so move second Miss fields and Dr Allen any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I any opposed and the motion carries next will be the Edward wbach Academy North contract renewal and I will seek a motion to approve the Edward
083wbach Academy North Charter renewal contract so moved second Mr sharpless and Dr Allen any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I I any opposed and the motion carries next we'll have the Jamie Howard Wilson Elementary contract renewal and I will seek a motion to approve the Janie Howard Wilson Elementary Charter renewal contract so moved second Mr sharpless and Miss Miller any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I any opposed and the motion carries next we'll have the lake whales High School contract renewal and I will seek a motion to approve the lake whales High School charter Charter renewal contract no moved second Mr sharpless and Miss Miller any discussion yes Mr sharpless I just want to say uh as a lake WS High
084School Highlander class of 2002 it takes it makes uh makes f with great pride to vote Yes on this Hail to the Highlanders thank you thank you Mr sharess any further discussion all right seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I I any opposed and the motion carries next will be R8 pulk Avenue Elementary contract renewal and I will seek a motion to approve the pulk Avenue Elementary Charter renewal contract so move second we have Mr sharplus and Dr Allen any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I I any opposed and the motion carries the next two items we discussed in our work session today so I and we disc discussed for our fsba board of directors appointments to have our representative be Dr Allen
085for the direct the committee members representative and then Mr sharpless as an alternate so I will now hear a motion to approve F fsba board of directors Committee Member representative Dr Allen and Alternate Mr sharpless move to approve Miss Miller and Miss Fields any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I I any opposed and the motion carries and then the next will be our FS fsba advocacy committee appointments and again in our work session today we discussed Miss Fields serving as the committee representative and Miss Miller serving as the alternate so I will seek a motion to approve the fsba advy committee representative as Miss fields and the alternate as Miss Lisa Miller so move second Dr Allen and Mr sharpless any discussion seeing none all those in favor
086please signify by saying I I any opposed and the motion carries I will now close the Schoolboard meeting and open the public hearing we have one item on on our public hearing this evening and we did not have anyone sign up to speak on that item this is for the 2023 2024 code of student conduct and I'll seek a motion to approve the changes and finalized code of conduct for the 23 2023 2024 school year move approval second Miss fields and Miss Miller any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I any opposed and the motion carries I'll will now close the public hearing and open the school board meeting and next we have our superintendent report superintendent Hyde yeah Madam chair before I provide my report I'd like to
087ask the team in the back go ahead and play a short video as you knew as you know we completed graduations and many of you joined me at the RP funding Center I had the pleasure we did the calculation of of shaking almost 5600 in individual hands at graduation that excludes the three this year that sprinted across the stage before we could get to them um but and that's that's unfortunately excludes five schools because they still host their events back at their home site which is a it's a long-standing tradition and it's an outstanding one but next year we're going to continue to work to see if we can't create a schedule that's more conducive to allowing us to attend all of our graduation events um but at this time I'd like to see again
088if the team would go ahead and the short video that they've prepared to honor our graduates and to honor our schools and the staff members who dedicate themselves in service to our children each [Music] day ladies and gentlemen on behalf of P County public schools welcome to today's commencement ceremony graduation is an important Milestone and we're proud that you've joined us to celebrate the momentous accomplishments of our students could you turn it up now please stand and honor the graduating class of [Music] congratulations I do pronounce upon those of you who have completed the necessary requirements as graduates of P County Public Schools congratulations to the class of 2023 please move your tassel from right to left from right to left [Applause] congratulations [Music] h hands down ties for the best day of the school
089year first day of school and graduation day are absolutely amazing the energy the enthusiasm and again it's it it's a recognition of our staff and our family and our community for the investment we've made in students for almost 13 years to get them to that point where they are young adults and can move out into the world move into a trade go out into the military and serve our country or go to college and so we're very excited for everyone who graduated but I I I'd be remiss again if I didn't take the opportunity to recognize the amazing team that works behind the scenes uh to help make this happen and the AV crew Unfortunately they can't all come in here because they're trying to manage the Schoolboard meeting at the same time but Nathan
090wayy Jessica Hall Jordan Garcia Jeremy kobell just mey Rivera uh Gus rodrig Rick ran Richard Sachs and two of our amazing interns Grace Franklin and Blake laughrey you need to understand that these individuals while we get there early and we stay late for graduations um we got to figure out how to get people out of the parking lot a little faster um at the end of the day but we're starting at 700 and we're leaving there almost 10:00 at night these people are there long before we arrive and long after we leave and we tried something new this year we tried to be a little bit more Innovative um we did try to do the smile cam so we were wearing um body cameras this year I want to say thank you to my colleagues
091on the board who agreed to try to do that um we definitely need some better harnesses next year um but it was an effort that we made because and here's the reason why we we wanted it we wanted to provide our families and our community with the sight and the view that we get because the smile and as most parents as you're watching your graduates cross the stage and graduates you'll remember this and parents you remember this if you had a graduate you get to see their side profile or their back typically as they're going across the stage we get to see the best smile that you can ever imagine because these kids are so excited and they're thrilled to have accomplished everything that they've done and so we've tried to capture that and we
092have some video footage we'll be sharing but next year we'll continue to improve the technology we tried a standalone camera we tried a mounted camera um the harness was more of a schmedium on me than it was intended to be uh it's a little tight but thank you to my colleagues Dr Allen tried to wear it others tried to wear it we're very thank but again I I just wanted to give recognition where it's deserved these people are absolutely amazing individuals and graduation ceremonies here are second to none and really kudos to them and the amazing Team all of our office staff and District staff who are there assisting families they were all there in blue shirts this year those are them volunteering their time each and every day on weekends late into the evening
093to make sure the graduation events go on and they're done in a very meaningful and Powerful way for our community and our students so thank you to every everyone involved and then Madam chair at this time I'd like to announce that the next work session will be held on June 27th 2023 the work session will begin at 9:00 a.m. the meeting will be held at the district office located at 1915 South Floral Avenue in Barto that concludes superintendent report Madam chair thank you superent Mr you have attorney's report thank you madam chair yes I do this evening U I would ask that the board um entertain a motion to advertise for a public hearing on July J 25 2023 during the regularly scheduled board meeting this will be for authority to advertise a public hearing
094on the naming rights and the fee structure for school district facilities thank you thank you Mr Murphy can I get a motion to advertise exactly what Mr Murphy just said and second thank you Miss fields and Dr Allen any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I hi hi any opposed and the motion carries thank you Madame chair and board that is all I have this evening and of course delighted to be here we're delighted to have you here you're welcome to come back in July if you want you know just missing out on the party let me take that under advisement thank you thanks okay and next we'll have our Auditor's report Miss Matthews thank you madam chair this evening I'm bringing for the recommendation for the appointment of Mr
095Salvatore tropia to the audit and finance committee Mr tropia is being nominated by School Board member Justin sharpless Mr tropia is a senior audit and tax manager at bunting trip and engley since 2006 he has over 15 years of experience in public accounting specializing in audit Taxation and consulting services for a diverse set of Industries he has a proven track record of implementing audit efficiencies Mr tropia is a CPA he has an MBA and a bachelor's degree in accounting from Southeastern University he serves on the board of directors at High Point Church of Lake Wales is a past president and member of the Rotary Club of Lake Wales and is a graduate of leadership Lake Wales class 22 Mr troia's three-year term will commence with your approval thank you Miss Matthews and I will hear
096a motion to approve Mr tropia to the audit and finance committee so moved second Mr sharpless and Miss Fields any discussion Mr sharpless no just uh he has a lot of years of experience in the Lake Wells Community and accounting as well as auditing and so I thought it was a perfect fit uh we needed someone with I feel like that committee is very important so we need someone with a lot of experience so thank you Mr sharpless any further discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I any opposed and the motion carries thank you anything else Miss Matthews thank you thank you so much all right next we will have Dr Allen with district one oh thank you madam chair uh it just in Li the amount of public
097comments uh I'm going to yield majority of my time to those comments but in general I would say it's been a busy extremely busy month with graduations and the end of the year events um really wanted to say a heartfelt thank you to superintendent Hyde um man I think you have the hardest job anywhere around so and you pour your heart into what you do so thank you um to your cabinet your staff uh you guys man you're pursuing excellence and I see it every day impacting our students and families PK so thank you um I do have to give a pencil comment too if that's okay um you know the pencil is like the beginning and the end it's like the Alpha and Omega in this little yellow or this one is the the
098Pearl Black Wing 602 but uh Madam chair that's all I have for my report tonight thank you thank you Dr Allen and next we will have Mr Niti uh thank you madam chair uh thank you superintendent Hy and I concur with everything uh Dr alen just said it was just a amazing uh graduation I was honored to attend uh many of the graduations and uh my hand is still uh recuperating from all those shakes but it was was worth every minute of it uh like superintendent Hyde said the uh expression the smiles on these students faces was uh incredible uh just uh heartwarming um and thank you all for attending tonight's meeting please continue to uh go to your grandchildren or your children's schools and attend those PTO meetings PTA meetings and uh do all
099you can to uh help our new generation uh become super leaders and um I also attended the sales half cent sales tax uh committee meeting and went well and hopefully uh we can uh move right along uh I hope everybody has a great uh summer vacation and uh be safe and God bless thank you Mr Niti and Miss Fields thank you mine will be very brief U Mr Murphy we're so happy to have you tonight and anytime you want to come back let us know I appreciate that thank you all right thank you we thank you for your service to us I um I wanted to just have one comment about the proclamation and Mr superintendent H thank you for the um recommendation that you're going to be bringing before us for discussion I know
100that we've had a practice maybe not a policy but we have had a practice originally we used to approve proclamations and then we went from approving to just presenting uh because of controversial things like like tonight uh I do want to say that I was very pleased to be asked to read the proclamation tonight and I would have read it uh with uh with pleasure I read it in June of last year I would have read it again tonight and I say that God expects us to love everybody everybody and so no matter what I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do cuz I'm trying to go to heaven okay um so so as we have conversation I look forward to that and I want to thank everybody that came tonight and uh I
101look forward to uh everyone understanding that it's okay to disagree you and I disagree a lot but we agree to disagree with respect and with honor and uh and the last thing that I would say is it is so heartwarming to see the graduates and the families and the academic Awards program I went to Kathleen high school and it's amazing to me how smart our kids are they are so smart they're doing so well yet sometimes we don't hear the good stuff it's always the negative stuff so to all the graduates to their families to the administrators to the teachers to the custodians to the uh lunchroom workers everybody who has impacted these young people's lives thank you and we look forward to what these young people are going to do because you know one
102day we're going to leave this place and somebody has to take our place and hopefully these young people will be able to come back and do just that that's my report thank you Miss Fields Mr sharpless um am I on yes okay you should be um I just want to First say uh you know I went to 10 graduations this year and it just reaffirmed in me in me why we do what we do in public education right we are helping students achieve their potential and when we and they gra walk across that graduation stage right we're sending them out into the world to do whatever they uh what has ever on their hearts right to do whether that's uh like superintendent Hyde said go into the workforce um College our military or so many
103different options for our students um it was truly a touching moment to to watch our students graduate um especially for two different ones that I went to that really um was special to me first um our Center Schools that graduated uh on May 13th um to see the excitement on the students faces um to see the support of the family at those Center Schools um I'm really looking forward to next year uh going to a center school and visiting one and seeing uh all the great work that's done at those Center Schools um that was the first one and another one that really um touched me was Roosevelt Academy in Lake Wales um I'm a Lake Wales boy my dad actually works at Roosevelt Academy um and seeing the difference that school makes for its
104students in particular when the salutatorian got up there and actually uh thanked my dad who's the construction teacher there uh for I'm G try without being emotional I'm gonna try it that he actually found a career path because of his classes there at Roosevelt Academy um that's special and that's the kind of work we do in pop County Public Schools and I'm going to end my comments there because I know we have a lot of public comments to go thank you Mr sharpless Miss Miller thank you I'll also try to I talk a lot but I'll try to fast forward um the graduations if you haven't been I'm lucky enough to be at Auburn Dale still on the field in the heat with the sweat running but it is the most it is the most
105like Spirit-filled if you've never stood next to John Hill who was the principal there during a graduation as he tells you the planes are coming the planes are coming and they drop streamers out over the kids and they Point towards the lake and seeing the alma mater you know I missed that for our schools I I don't want to start controversy and Winter Haven we were still on the field in 1994 but um Auburn Dale is true Spirit of family the kids there nobody cares who you are where you're from who your parents are it is a family that entire Community is a family and the same thing goes for Lake Gibson even though we had to link pinkies and sing the song that I really don't know at the end um Ryan Van will
106make sure that you know you are safe in his schools and you are valued and I think that as a district and it's odd that we're at this place now where that's even a question um you know we gave out our first scholarship in our family for my son Michael in his benefit in his honor and it went to a little girl named Lily Fields Lily it didn't matter what her grade her grades were it was I told the school send me students who show inclusion who try to be friends with everyone who go out of their way to make sure kids of all abilities kids from different backgrounds feel welcomed and we and and it was Lily and I think we have a lot of lies in this District I'm proud to be part
107of a district who's not in chaos if you watch the state as they fire their superintendent and people come to meeting who never been inside a school and tell me what we're doing to kids you know it's sad it's a we are in a sad place but for the people that know this community you go to Lake Gibson you go to auale Winter Haven you w you watch that graduation people hugging their kids they love students they love what they do they wouldn't do it if they didn't we all we all know nowadays I mean you have to love this job even when Jeb Bush was here we went to that big thing and he said guess what P county is doing what this whole country should be doing you're involving your business Community our
108business community supports these schools there's not people you know we don't have adversarial um Community Support we really there is a small group that keeps rebranding to try to you know sell sell it but I'm telling you the people that your neighbors love your kids and love the school system and they volunteer every day I get parents I have parents volunteering in classrooms without even being asked it's amazing to see what we're doing so I invite you out if you haven't been I'm so proud that my colleague is going to go to a center school but if you want to see see a school what we're doing a title one school or if you want to go to one of our amazing acmy Aerospace come look what we're doing and know and I appreciate what
109Miss field said you know I hate to say it shouldn't take God telling us um or the government it should be that's what we do we love every kid in this district and we they will feel safe when they are with us and I appreciate you coming out tonight thank you Miss Miller so I just have a couple brief comments and then we are going to take a brief recess just because we've been going about two hours and we have probably between an hour and a half and two hours left um but I just wanted to quickly make comments about graduation it really is the best two weeks of the year um seeing those students faces but also seeing them greet their principles um is just incredible um I also just want to give a
110shout out to miss Dodge though today was her last official meeting with us on staff um I know that she can't go far that she's not going to change her number but I don't think any of us should be surprised that she was slightly poached it um was bound to happen at some point um but I'm excited that she'll get to keep working with the district I think um all that that is going on in Tallahasse with education that we have we've had some huge wins over the past several years um and a large part of that is in thanks to Mis Dodge and making sure that that we we keep the ability to make as many decisions as possible Right here in P County and with that I will I'm going to recess the
111meeting we will be back at it is 7:07 now we're going to be back at 7:20 [Music] my name is Paul Peterson I am an art teacher at Southwest Middle School and for the past 5 years or so we've been making skateboards in my [Music] class I remember the P County School Board mission statement a few years ago talked about rigor and relevance and what I found in 20 years of teaching that the kids are learning all these skills but they're not able to apply them in a relevant way to where they are right now so by making the skateboards they're able to incorporate the math science and Artistry of taking a raw material to a finished product that they can go out and actually physically use at Southwest Middle School in Lakeland Florida art
112teacher Paul Peterson dives into the art of fusing academics with Woodworking and design resparking vocational and academic skills that had previously faded there's always a beginning to any Endeavor and Mr Peterson started less than 5 years ago in 2014 Lakeland was a sponsor City for inos skate and that year we hooked up with creativ skate. org and we made about 50 [Music] skateboards [Music] with the will and a way to do so Peterson regularly involves his students in the physical process of making skateboards making it a fun and educational experience for everyone I'm work with the kids and we design what kind of skate they want to ride for the type writing they want to do and we get Baltic Birch ply which is a hardwood that's cut down to a 16th of an inch
113and we layer nine layers of them together in a 12ton hydraulic press all right I need your help guys cuz you always every time you glue something you got to do sound effects and since we're on film [Music] [Laughter] ready that takes a very thin relatively flimsy piece of wood and allows us to put Curves in it and by layering so many layers ERS together it'll support the weight of a full-grown adult while standardized testing and future Readiness have become a dominant focus in schools today Mr Peterson's vocational involvement gives light to the dynamic importance of applying Real World Knowledge his methods raise the standards for student achievement and instills fundamental basics of History Math Science and even economics I want to keep making them because I want to keep writing them honestly it's just
114a fun thing to do it gets a lot of students really interested in my subject matter rather than just getting put in an art class that they may or may not be too interested in at this age a lot of my students are less concerned about the classics and Greeks in the Renaissance but you talk skateboards hot rods and graffiti there loving it and they're learning the same skills with a perspective color shading and so on and once I get them hooked then I can bring in a little bit more of the history of where all these skills came [Music] from this is my board I painted it with zombies probably took me about a week or two to paint this this one right here is one of my favorites her name is Taylor Haynes
115she did this I believe her sixth grade going into her seventh grade year so she is about 12 when she painted this skateboard once the kids finish designing cutting and painting their board into a final product they finally get to experience what it's like writing something entirely of their own creation we kind of have like a freedom to do kind of whatever we want on the boards of course you're not painting on paper or drawing on paper it's a little different and if you know how you can write it and kind of be proud of what you've done what I found with my students is it really seems to empower them to go out and earn the money to participate in the program themselves rather than asking mom and dad and the beauty of it
116is no two skateboards are exactly alike they work collaboratively in groups the discovering their own talents intelligence and self-confidence all vital ingredients to building a better future of Role Models one skateboard at a [Music] time [Music] DN starts right [Music] now let the celebration begins there's a new Aura over Bryant Stadium a new air of anticipation that doesn't come from lakeland's latest state championship football title it isn't centered around the legacy of their longtime winning coach 73-year-old Bill Castle a champion again it derives from something much smaller than all that an idea that rippled under the bow of the mighty dreadn it was September 28th Midway through last season when the team faced the Barto yellow jackets and the dreadn wave crested for the first time well wishes from our dread off family to yours
117at the end of the first quarter the announcer announces that we are going to stand light your cell phones and we are going to wave to the Pediatric unit on the sixth floor of the Carol Jin Pavilion and they're in their windows with their cell phones kids are waving parents are waving and we're all waving back it's just quite an emotional experience actually I thought it was awesome we all stayed just so we could see that happen cuz it was amazing but seeing the fans join in with the the team and both teams and the cheerleaders was just didn't expect that to see just how they looked up to the children and did their lights and it was just it like a tear moment it's fun to look back at the stadium and see all
118the fans with their lights and uh you know everybody waving up to the stands it's a great Moment In the Heat of the battle of a football game where everybody comes together for something other than football everybody's received it and everybody's had really enjoys it and uh we've just been um fortunate that uh this has been a part of our program our players uh you know they really bought into it they really enjoy going up to the hospital visiting the children right there engaging with those kids and it's two things if they can might make one kid smile and uh give him a brief moment of forgetting about his problems it's really worth it but I I think the players get as as much or more out of it and and seeing those kids and
119realizing how you know they've been blessed and uh it's just been a great part of our program I think that having to see people hospitalized is a humbling experience in a lot of ways and these young men are are are growing up and learning what real life is all about and I think that this is you know a great lesson for them to see how impactful a positive um attitude and a positive influence on people can be uh and you can really see it in the looks on the kids' faces and and just in the interaction with the families you know whether they're a big time wide receiver scoring touchdowns or whatever they're doing on the field they always say one of their best memories was being able to go to the Pediatric unit and
120see those kids and for whatever phenomena it is whatever three players we take up to that pediatric unit they have the game of their life that night and they say they're playing for the kids it's really touching to them some of them have had to be patients in the Pediatric unit before but they really make a connection with those kids and they see those kids struggling with feeding tubes and surgeries and so they just want to come out and play harder for them and they really are very touched it's kind of an emotional thing for them to be able to go up there see those kids and say don't worry I'm going to get one for you tonight be watching and and those kids will stand in the window the whole game watching the game
121they make a connection with those kids well everyone in town is such a huge fan of the football team you know so there's an erir of excitement within the Pediatric unit any distraction that can take away from some of the scary stuff that our pediatric patients uh are dealing with I think is just a great way for the community to help support our children if you'd like to participate in lakeland's newest tradition you can join the wave as the dreadnots open their season against the CMI Oola Cowboys when a few pint-size fans some too young to hold a ball can cheer knowing the first score is for [Music] them to see the team's complete schedule visit Lakeland football.com [Music] good evening I will now reconvene the Schoolboard meeting and we will go into our public
122comments for items not included on this evening's agenda just as before to register to speak community members must have filled out a speaker card in the lobby prior to the meeting all speakers will be given three minutes the light will turn yellow when you have 1 minute left and you will hear a beep when your time has concluded please note that although the board encourages Community participation no immediate action will be taken on items presented during this public comment portion of the meeting if follow-up board action is required then the matter may be placed on an agenda at a subsequent meeting in accordance with Schoolboard policy the same as before we have a lovely little red line over here so if you are on deck that means you're up next if you could go and
123make your way to the red line so that we can move through smoothly so first we will have Carrie McCoy and on Deck will be Kyle Moore and if you could just say state your name for the record when you start and then the clock will start as soon as you you start speaking and board members um I would like you all to know that pul Pride the group asking for this Proclamation declaring June lgbtq plus month does not have a problem with moving the proclamation to October October is lgbtq plus history month and school is in session uh I understand there have been some procedural issues with proclamations I also understand June is a low attending me meeting unless we get the word out to have people show up I see there's not a
124whole lot of students here so um so running an lgbtq youth group I know that you know most of my youth are currently on vacation and are unable to attend this meeting with having this proclamation in October where more kids can attend and be celebrated for who they are um is a great way of letting them know that they matter not only will there be more students to be able to attend but more staff members more community members uh will be able to attend because less people will be on vacation Mr Hyde I know there doesn't seem to be a right or a wrong here um and I would hate to be in your shoed this evening um because I'm sure you're going to hear exactly what people think um about this whole issue um
125here tonight um but personally I and behalf um of pulk Pride uh I want to thank you uh for what you do not just for our lgbtq plus students but for all the students of P County and I thank the board as well so thank you thank you Miss McCoy next is Kyle Moore and on Deck is Sarah Fortney I'm Kyle Moore I'm with women's voices of Southwest Florida did you know that Florida is actually the most dangerous state for Trans people between the bathroom ban gender affirming care bans everything else going on I mean Manatee County just tried to remove queer students from their yearbook you're refusing to acknowledge a marginalized community that is actively under attack a marginalized community that makes up a huge part of your community as you can see by
126how we have shown up our superintendent has showed us that we are not representing all of our margin marginalized communities such as our Black and Hispanic communities which is honestly just sad when they deserve so much recognition but that doesn't mean that we should not recognize us as a community it means that we should work to make these proclamations for all marginalized communities and I want to thank Cade fields for standing by my community side unfortunately there are not of lot of leaders who are standing by our side during these attacks instead of growing and celebrating our diverse Community you decided to reject our Proclamation for the sake of order decorum and policy and excuse many school boards and other boards are making as an excuse to push harmful anti-tr and antiquer ideology ideology that
127is in many cases being fed to these boards by recognized ha groups such as Mom for Liberty seeking to further the attacks on the lgbtq plus community and further the campaign of a certain fascist tropical fer that we all know unfortunately this is not something that our community will stand for and and I urge you to continue trying to make these proclamations for our marginalized communities thank you thank you Sarah Fortney and on Deck is Donna Windsor Miss Fortney ah thank you to the Overflow crowd that can't get in and those watching from home this they know what this means here I am back where I started on this side of the microphone in 198 85 I am Sarah Fortney I stand here tonight for staff students and my community with or without Pride or
128lgbtq history proclamations the fact remains we are here we are queer get used to it because we're not going anywhere I am however very troubled about the right-wing extremist attack and the removal of Dei for the seat warmer not good with numbers I'll spell out the acronym diversity equity and inclusion P County sometimes lacks support much like the supposed delay of the pride Proclamation and that leads to an unequal playing field for our various cultures backgrounds races beliefs in public educ education what's the true agenda forced ignorance self-censorship elimination of cultural diversity and true history via whitewashing by whites in power namely the one in Tallahassee book Banning and curriculum manipulation are strategic make no mistake let me help the folks on the dance you're invited to poke Pride on June 17th in mun Park
129in Lakeland stop by and get a photo at the equality Florida tent andove you do in fact stand with all staff students and communities unless you're afraid of Cooties that the seat warmer claims to exist just know I have always been fully vaccinated thank you thank you Miss Courtney Donna Windsor and on Deck is Matthew G gesi hello thank you sorry thank you um good evening to all of you and thank you for being here I would also like to thank Miss fields and Miss Miller for speaking up um that is courageous in in today's political climate to take a stand um even though it is now at more important than ever um I am a parent of two po County students students I am raising them in a household where black lives matter women's
130rights are human rights no human being is illegal science is Real Love is love and kindness is everything that is the the Creed by which I am raising my children who attend your schools and they have no problem they are not feeling at all threatened about being who they are because of their lgbtq friends family teachers classmates anything they are not threatened it doesn't change who they are it doesn't stop them from having a belief in any God that they choose or no belief in any God it lets them be who they are and be just like every student should have that right to be so I'm here tonight as a straight cisgendered parent who wants to make sure that my kids get to live in a world where everyone matters equally everyone has the
131same right so while I understand that the the issue with the pride Proclamation was presented as um you know we aren't doing right for everybody so we shouldn't do right for anybody until we can do right for everybody I don't agree with that I think that's the keeping the pride Proclamation and adding on to that is the right answer I believe that we need to add on the military families the women all of the other groups that you mentioned but that doesn't mean we have to take it away from the Community who has had such a horrible year of being so threatened and so marginalized in this state just so that Rhonda Sanz can run for president um they deserve better from us they deserve better from everyone in this community regardless of who you
132are regardless of whether you identify as as gay straight by trans it doesn't matter they deserve the same rights the same equality the same safety that we all enjoy thank you for letting me speak thank you Matthew and I will let you say your last name this time and then Joel and mCP is on deck and I apologize when nope whenever you're ready you can just start speaking okay my name is Matthew rolski I'm 19 years old only and the last time I spoke at a school board related event was speaking in opposition to Banning the book Extremely Loud and and Incredibly Close what we saw was an attack on our public education system as a member of the class of 2022 I know way more than about our students our classes and more than
13360-year-old Nazis that are full of hate I know of so many nonis and non-rate students in our County that desperately need our help our valorian our salutatorians and our students pleas please face the board because you're here TOA yes thank you that are fighting every single day for their basic rights if the the PO count School Board doesn't act now while all the homophobes in mon Park and across Florida at Disney for example wave Nazi Flags then when will the board actually Step Up will it ever defy the fascism that my grandparents stood against or will it simply let happen I know from my past with a school board that's an understanding body please please understand that you need to a affirm basic human rights right now these are the colors that we fight for
134we need to stand up for our vorian salutatorians and our everyday students and show them actual love as somebody that is a product of Po County Public Schools I am disappointed in the board in this whole ordeal the fact that it seems like the board at times doesn't care fully about students in some aspects really hurts I know of so many students that are still in high school at Lakeland Highlands at Lakeland High and all the other schools in our County and they always scream why does the board and our elected government seem to just not care there's so many people that I know that have been Baker acted that have been suicidal because of their sexual orientation and the fact that it seems like our local government here in one of the counties in
135the United States of America that has one of the fastest growing LGBT populations and that is one of the fastest growing in terms of Generation Z that is abhorent we need to actually stand up and that can be H that can happen through the school board actually doing something thank you to uh The Honorable Lisa Miller to Kay fields for your speeches tonight uh K Fields especially that almost made me cry that was one of the best things I've ever heard from one of our elected officials from in po County and I work in politics so I've heard a a lot so thank you to everyone that is standing up for us with us and on the sidelines if you're just waiting along and just waiting for things to happen it's time to stand up
136with us thank [Applause] you next is Joel and mCP and on Deck is Kristen B good evening my name is Joel and mCP my pronouns are her I stand here tonight as an ally to our students and Families First I would like to commend superintendent Hyde and the board for recognizing the importance of the pride Proclamation and I also want to ensure that the public understands that the pride Proclamation was not pulled due to any group speaking against it as a false narrative that has been passed around by a loud ineffectual few but that has been postponed and will be officially presented at a later date once an equitable policy is in place our diversity matters secondly to those students and families who identify with the lgbtq plus Community we see you you make us
137infinitely better and stronger and we will continue to be outspoken champions for your rights and protections silence is not neutrality it is complicity and we will not be silent in that vein I would like to speak to an incident that occurred at the last school board meeting on May 9th racist and divisive epets have no place in our schools I am appalled that a sitting board member would not only openly and willfully remain ignorant to the requirements of his seats budgets and finances but would also blatantly show his ignorance and lack of respect for our community with offensive of slurs I am equally disappointed that this board member was not publicly admonished immediately following his remarks to this board member I say learn your job and understand that your job is to represent the best
138interest of all our students not just those who look like you good old boy mentality may play well in selling golf tees it falls flat when you're responsible for the educ ation of our children in conclusion tonight we honor the lgbtq community we celebrate the beauty and vibrancy you bring to our lives we will continue to stand with you thank you thank you Kristen [Applause] B and on Deck I'm think it looks like Cruz is the last name first name starts with a d last four digits of the phone number 7275 if that's you okay and Kristen B you can start whenever you are ready good evening I'm Kristen um I am a parent a Community member I'm a product of P County Public Schools um Winter Haven High School graduate we don't have to
139say what year um I'm an ally and I'm also a teacher in P County Public Schools um I want to begin by saying that I personally feel that superintendent Hyde is one of the best that we've had in P County Public Schools at least as long as I've been a teacher I've had many interactions with him and they have always left me impressed and truly feeling like he cares for the students and staff of P County public schools i' had originally planned to attend this meeting tonight because it had been announced that a pride Proclamation would be read and I wanted to show my support I was disappointed to to learn a few days ago that this item was removed from the agenda by superintendent Hyde himself I wanted to be sure to point that
140out since so many people are confused and think that the board removed it due to pressure from certain community members um as a teacher I make sure that all students feel safe seen and represented in my classroom and I feel it is not too much to ask that they receive the same treatment from their superintendent and their school board especially considering that reading a proclamation is really the bare minimum that you can do to acknowledge that something or someone exists Mr Hyde by removing this Proclamation you have caused this community to doubt your support when they need your solidarity and support now more than ever we are asking for you to include the original June Pride Proclamation at July's board meeting so that you can remedy this harm and show your support we also urge
141you to have a separate Proclamation for lgbtq History Month in October as these are separate events and do deserve separate proclamations because so many people were expecting to hear a pride Proclamation tonight I would now like to use the rest of my time to read the proclamation that Miss Fields read last year P County Florida is part of a global community in which people of diverse cultures races Creeds genders and sexual identities must work together toward peace and understanding the lesbian gay bisexual transgender and queer students within P County contribute to this vibrant Innovative culturally inclusive world-class community and to its diversity various advancements have been made with respect to equal rights and protections for all people included in the lgbtq community throughout the State of Florida and the United States members of the lgbtq
142plus communities still face ongoing discrimination based on their innate status resulting in immeasurable human tragedy loss of life Community isolation and abuse parents families and friends of lesbians and gays of P County Envision a world where diversity is valued and affirmed inclusive of their sexual orientation gender identity and gender expression thank you [Applause] D Cruz and I will have you say your name for the record and then Shaina f is on Deck thank you my name is Daphne CR Cruz that's the D and I know I have a little bit of a chicken scratch so thank you sorry U thank you to uh you guys for you know giving us a space to uh speak first and foremost and for listening I know other places it hasn't as welcoming so thank you to the county
143for doing that um for those of you who don't know I am a product of Po County School Board I also have given the last 10 years in my career at po County School Board five years Elementary three years middle and two years High School completing my 10 years before I had officially resigned uh just a few weeks ago given the rhetorics I guess we could say that have been happening over the last two years things have been a tough time for us and our community and I mean the lgbtqia plus Community including our non-binaries as well want to make sure I give them a shout out um I don't question so much more of why the pride Proclamation was removed more as to please be mindful of what's happening right now in the recent
144politics that are currently happening against our community and just be mindful with verbage be mindful with timing because timing is everything um you know pride in June is much different than Pride History Month in October they're two vastly different things and it's okay to be uh blissfully ignorant um in in in a respectful way to not know that but we're here to learn today um I want to definitely say that it is important for our students our staff our teachers our leaders to know that we support them um and that you guys support them and just like um earlier today when Miss F say that you said that we can all agree to disagree and kind of keep that conversation respectful and moving forward that's exactly the same Mantra that I have and I've always
145had um within my career I've come across parents that have told me I don't want to speak to the gay one I've had Parents ask me am I legal you know this isn't a climate that is exactly the most fun but it is a climate that we can use to learn and use our voices to speak towards you know a community that that has been under attack lately um and it doesn't it doesn't hurt to just let others know that hey regardless of whether or not I agree with you or typically that has said your lifestyle I'm here for you in whichever way I can be and that's all that we ask of you guys um additionally I would like to say when it came to graduation I was there I was the one that
146was balling in the corner I was shaking hands with my students and there was no more Pride that I felt when I had one of my students um and I I call them my gabes my gay students I call them all my baby my gabes and I had one student who was a trans male walk across the stage and I just started balling cuz all I could think about was who is going to be here for them to support them to encourage them to to be their true selves at the end of the day you were born to be you and just like our Mantra Says student first it's not straight students first it's not black students first it's not white students first all students and all students should be put first always thank [Applause]
147you we have Shaina white sorry Shaina F and then on Deck is Anita Carson and just so the speakers know for some reason our yellow button is or yellow light is not working right now but if you watch the clock it will count down for you whenever you're ready Shea thank you I am Shauna I'm a Poke County resident a 20-year veteran teacher a parent and a loud and proud Ally to the lgbtqia plus Community I want to specifically address the thank yous that you make receive for the act of pulling the pride Proclamation from tonight's agenda superintendent Hyde it is your stance that it was a temporary move while while we wait for policy development and I thank you for your opening statement of clarification however regardless of this fact perception is reality it
148is the perception of some that extremists have been the pressing force behind the decision to remove the proclamation from the agenda I challenge each of you individually to set the record straight we are still in pride month so if you do represent all of the student students in our system and you haven't done so already thank you to K and Lisa set the record straight immediately use your social media Outlets use the strength of the voice that got you the seat that you're in and say no thank you to the thank yous and say Here's the truth I unequivocally stand with our young people in no uncertain terms say it during your next board member comments post the proc that you heard from someone a few moments ago there's no policy necessary for that regardless
149of the intent superintendent Hyde the Optics are ugly the timing is poor lgbtqia plus students and families are under attack across our state and Country and the reality is literal lives are on the line in a Time such as this it is fact that suicide rates are higher among lgbtq youth when support is lacking recent surveys by the Trevor Project clearly indicate that anti-lgbtq legislation greatly affects the mental health of our young people legislation that is behind the pulling of proclamations across the state whether it was the case in this one or not it is the it is fact that inclusive spaces improve the odds that they will feel supported and choose to live please step out of the political game that you are are all forced to play for just a moment and make
150it blatantly clear that you support and uphold the rights and protections that you honor and respect the authenticity that you cherish the lives of each and every student and family in our district schools inclusive spaces and proud voices save lives on this Pride week be proud of our lgbtqia A+ students and family and say it out loud thank you and happy Pride Anita Carson and on Deck is Bob nickel whatever you ready Anita hi uh my name is Anita Carson y'all have heard me talk tons of times though I believe this is the first time that you've heard me talk as a quality Florida and not just for myself um for those of you that I've heard in the room already Whispering that equality FL is here um I am but I also have been
151in this district for a decade I taught in this district for a decade um I ran for school board in this District so I'm not an outsider um I've been here and I care about our students here um I know that our superintendent is not homophobic he's not transphobic I know there are several people on the board that I have great relationships with and I want that to continue um with that being said I would love to see the pride Proclamation I understand understand why it was withdrawn I'd love to see policy going forward about how we move through that but putting it on to the next board meeting or the next board meeting after we have a procedure I think would be a great way to show students and their families and our community
152as a whole that we are supportive of them and I would love to see that before school starts because there's a difference between seeing it before school starts after this has happened then seeing it in October several months into the school year and then also as a few people have pointed out there's a difference between pride and lgbtq History Month just like we can do a juneth proclamation and a Black History Month Proclamation they're different so we can do both and while we might not be able to get it in June July sometime before school starts would be amazing um I would like to make sure that our students feel supported um I loved what Shana just said a moment ago suicide rates are higher in lgbtq students but that is not because they in
153and of themselves are more suicidal it is because of the support around them and the lack of it it is because of the rhetoric around them and when we talk about mental health support in this County which I know is a huge thing that we talk about a lot this is part of that it's making sure that they feel supported by the whole board by the superintendent by their principles by their teachers that reduces bad mental health outcomes so I would really appreciate any and all support that you can get obviously we have a large community of people that want this as well and so I look forward to hearing from any of you about how we're going to remedy to this to make sure that our students feel supported before the school year starts
154thank you than [Applause] you Bob nickel and then on Deck will be chel Davis good evening it's good to see you all again thank you Miss Fields thank you Miss Miller my name is Bob nickel as you all know I'm a teacher at Boon Middle School in hannes City last week P County Commissioner Neil kbi said quote I believe we shouldn't be adopting regulations re resolutions regarding lifestyle choices end quote choices who would choose to be gay who would choose to be beaten and stuffed in the trunk of a car Ryan Skipper didn't choose to be gay he didn't choose to be stabbed 20 times and have his throat slit before his body was dumped on the side of a road in Wanita all because he was gay Ryan Skipper graduated from Winter Haven High
155School went to Travis votch He attended Grace Lutheran in Winter Haven where growing up he was an old boy Ryan Skipper was a true Christian not the ones who used the Bible to hide their bigotry removing the pride Proclamation from the agenda this month is a disservice to the legacy of Ryan Skipper there's been talk of moving it to lgbtq month in October when students are in school how would that work how can teachers and students celebrate lgbtq month when we can't even say gay in the classroom the pride Proclamation should never have been pulled from this month's agenda at the very least it should be ready next month thank you thank you [Applause] Mr chelse Davis and then on Deck is Spike P hi I'm chelse Davis I'm a school counselor I'm a p
156County native and I am a member of the LGBT community uh when I applied to work for p County Schools back in 2015 I took comfort in the policies in place that would protect myself and my family from workplace discrimination that sense of safety uh the base of maso's hierarchy of needs if I may put my counselor hat on for a moment um that sense of security allowed me to pursue excellence in my position without worry that my employment might be endangered because I chose to be married to a woman the past year saw several policies pass in Florida which had me questioning my family's safety in this state the past legislative session was one unpleasant surprise after another and I found myself frequently questioning if I was welcome in my home with the encouragement
157of my work family and my loving Community I did decide to stay so I'll be here next year um the the last minute timing it's it's it's really is the timing it's the last minute timing to remove the pride month Proclamation it was startling it had me asking those same questions all over again was this the other shoe that was about to drop would I need to sell my home leave my friends and family here in P County um I really do appreciate that a procedure needs to be implemented um it's necessary I look forward to having stability on on that in the future um I look forward to National School counseling week being celebrated every year uh I ask that you please reflect on the timing issues surrounding this move to avoid this sort
158of concern in the future uh sudden policy changes relevant to vulnerable populations they feel targeted and they raise alarms there are a lot of LGBT staff here in P County and in the P County School Board uh we just want to work we just want to live and we want to do that with that essential sense of safety uh thank you to the board and to Mr Mr Hyde thank you very much uh for your time and for your support thank [Applause] you next we have Spike p and then Ruby B and just a reminder if you could say your name for the record before you begin uh my name is Spike uh good evening everyone uh I've been a Poke County resident my entire life and a few years ago I graduated from a
159Poke County School uh I myself am an interex trans gay man and when I went to school there was not really any representation there was no support for me at that time and uh I know what it is like to be um verbally and physically harmed by people not showing support or representation um and uh I do believe that uh the June Proclamation should be moved to uh July or the next one after that and that there can be an October lgbtq plus history Proclamation as well because these are two completely separate instances uh to different uh areas within the community to show representation and support your support and this representation matters especially now in the current time that queer students and staff are the most at risk to be attacked by hate groups for
160their identities uh queer kids today deserve the representation and support that I never got growing up in this County thank you for your time thank you Ruby B and then on Deck is Bonnie Patterson James Ruby okay hi um I'm the parent of four kids the oldest of which is due to start kindergarten in August and I'm a former P County School student um many books I read as a child in P County schools are now removed under the guise of freedom and Parents Choice when in reality the choices and freedom of parents have been taken away from me and others mostly by people who don't even have school aged kids you mentioned earlier other groups deserve desing of acknowledgement including Autism Awareness sorry Autism Awareness Month a love for reading and curiosity is a
161trait for many of us including me and some of my children I myself was this type of student going through big chapter books in a day or two including some of the ones on that are now banned and as for mental health awareness month if you care about mental health allow everyone to have access to these books to relate and to learn from and do the proclamation as you have likely heard said recently no one is trying to make straight kids queer we are trying to stop queer kids from becoming dead kids because it is not that hard to care or learn about people who are different from you you don't have to take support from one group to give it to another it is so simple I even found a book on empathy for
162small children at Dollar Tree Dollar Tree Dollar 25 tree I highly suggest most of you go and purchase them because you seriously need it come on it's just a dollar 25 you can do it have a spine quit signing with fastests because they have never been on the right side of history in the end non-white people exist non Cy people exist non non hetero people exist and always have and you cannot change that get over it and stop making your ignorance everyone else's problem thank [Music] you next is Bonnie Patterson James and on Deck is Monica stz well that's a tough act to follow I think you know superintendent Hyde we're not happy with you not happy at all because here we are again I'm Lakeland resident and I was here last May when you
163were Banning books and ideals that children need you've let your lgbtqia community down with your lack of support this should be a time that these students fill the support of their leaders schools and Community removing the proclamation from June is an insult to these students and families and our community and it needs to be Rec ified immediately these students need solidarity now more than ever especially after that legislative session that they were constantly being attacked I had transparents crying in my arms gay parents figuring how am I going to get my family out of this state for safety school is supposed to be safe period it is the right thing to do you don't need a procedure or policy to do the right thing humanity is free all marginalized communities desire our support and they
164deserve it love and protection from extreme ideas and the hate groups that continue to show up in our school boards our community and our families po Commissioners mocked the proclamation mocked the proclamation rocked mocked the students family and community and what we all know is pride month you followed suit though you didn't think about your students you didn't think about the families you didn't think about the community you went with your biased opinion and you blamed it on policy get your Christianity and spirituality right thank you Miss Fields thank you Miss Miller you stood up in a time to where people need to be standing up and speaking out loud I have nothing more to say but shame on you you should really be ashamed of yourself because I feel feel shame for you thank
165you Monica stz and on Deck is Kathy Huston my name is Monica stz and I live in Winter Haven I'm a proud parent of a recent pul County public schools graduate and another graduate in 2020 I'm also a former teacher um I'm here tonight for many reasons but to explain to this board and those here that I just left a profession that I love and have dedicated many years to I most recently spent 10 years teaching kindergarten I was recognized by my peerce as teacher of the year for my school I'm burned out the endless demands on teachers are unattainable but as professionals we do everything in our power to achieve these demands I spent my career with the motto set by Christ moli I touch the future I teach it's fitting that tonight there
166were students recognize for the dick scobby um scholarship we do this at the expense of our own health of our families of our own Pockets to fund our classroom there are many things that I hear and read about why our educational system is fa failing books curriculum and a beautiful population of people are the current targets I have never once felt that I harmed a student who asked a question about diversity in my classroom what I did fear and worry about the harm that I was inflicting on them was not and not to mention myself was explaining to my four five and six-year-olds many of them their very first experience in school why we had to hide in tiny smelly bathrooms every month as part of active shooter drills and on several occasions actual threats
167that were on or near our campuses I wonder how many people in this room have sat in a bathroom or a dark closet with 18 or more small children trying to keep them quiet because you don't know if the threat is real real or a drill it's terrifying I mentioned the smelly bathrooms because many of P County Public Schools campuses are over 50 years old and have original facilities and plumbing I've lost count the number of times the classroom toilets have overflow materials um disrupting the learning environment at one school the roach roach infestation so bad I developed a great teaching skill of how to kill a roach and continue teaching without disrupting the learning environment there have been endless changes to curriculum I mean just in the past few years are we using lfs
168I can statements LSI learning targets benchmarks receiving curriculum months after school begins none of these even address how developmentally inappropriate our early childhood curriculum is what has been our solution onetoone devices encouraging more screen time current state funding has made me feel completely unvalued easily replaceable new teachers with zero experience as I do with 10 years experience what other profession is this as of 6 p.m. tonight 608 current positions are open andr instuctional and that should be the most important thing for the people in this room thank you Kathy Hudson and then on Deck is Richard nut hi I'm Kathy Houston sorry it's okay sorry it happens and um I'm here as an ally for our lgbtq youth and also as a mother and also as a teacher I do teach at for Lake Wells
169charter schools and I just have to say um I've spoken at the lake Welles meetings before but this is my first time to be here and I really enjoyed myself I want to thank Miss fields for your words and Miss Miller your words and also Mr sharpless and your comments about Roosevelt Academy and I really do feel this energy that you we are a place that cares about kids just cares about all kids kids of all different kinds um with that being said um my own Journey as a mother my daughter suffered severe bullying for for being part of the lgbtq community um and had to go out of state to Alaska her junior year because the bullying was so bad um and that was here in P County and I'll just leave it at
170that she did come back and graduate from Lake Wales charter school she's now left she lives in San Francisco so I'd like for us to go a step further than just trying to create a supportive environment where lgbtq people don't feel compelled to kill themselves but to create an environment where they feel that they can stay and use their gifts to make our state the most awesome state it can be because it's it's sad when I'm sitting here meeting new people and hearing teachers hearing administrator or um counselors different folks saying hey I might have to leave and then seeing within my own family my own daughter feeling that she has to leave and that this is not a safe place for her um I do want to go back to our main goal here
171and is that that's that Pride Proclamation I encourage you to do it in the summer because quite frankly I don't know if I could make it here if I was teaching right now so for me and for many students summer is a good time and pride Proclamation is different than lgbtq history that should also be in October so I do encourage you to do that in July or at least have it regular for June and October here on out and let's also include other groups um Black History Month um Latino history month and autism awareness um and just make this a great place where not only do we support all students and help them feel safe loved so that they can grow into adulthood but so that they can be wonderful amazing contributing members of
172our community thank you thank you Miss hon Richard nut and then on Deck is Don an Hagar my name is Richard nut subsection two of section 10628 of the Florida statute States the district school board has the Constitutional Duty and responsibility to select and provide adequate instructional materials for all students in accordance with the requirements of this part House Bill 1069 added the following passage during this last legislative session to read any material that is subject to an objection on the basis of Sub Sub sub paragraph B1 or B2 must be removed within five school days of receipt of the objection and remain unavailable to students of that school until the objection is resolved parents shall have the right to read passages from any material that is subject to an objection if the school board
173denies apparent the right to read passages due to content that meets the requirements of Sub Sub sub paragraph B B1 the school district shall discontinue the use of the material for clarification Sub Sub sub paragraph B1 stipulates material that is pornographic or prohibited under statute 847.011 for clarification statute 84701 2 paragraph 3B specifies explicit and detailed verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexual excitement or sexual conduct that is harmful to minors the book all boys aren't blue is in the libraries of the following high schools Davenport Kathleen and Roosevelt Academy the following is a passage from this book did you feel that yeah but I laughed and said get your hand off my butt you giggled that's not my hand you're lying I said you then placed both hands on my hips As We Lay
174side by side there was still something poking me you were fully erect at this point point I was nervous we going to get in trouble you can't tell anybody okay you said you promise that you ain't going to tell anyone I promised you then grabbed my hand and made me touch it it was the first time I'd ever touched a penis that wasn't my own I knew what was happening wasn't supposed to happen cousins weren't supposed to do those things with cousins according to Florida statute 10628 you are responsible for the books in our schools you statute 84701 2 paragraph 5 States an adult may not knowingly distribute to a minor on school property or post on school property any material described in subsection three that we discussed above which was discussed like I said
175earlier statute 847 .012 paragraph 6 says any person violating any pro provision of this section commits a felony to third degree that is fitting thank you Donna no I will end this meeting right now we are not booing Donna Hagar and on Deck is Phoenix Mooney hi I'm Donna Hagar and first I'd like to thank the sheriff's deputies who are all here to protect us and say how sad it is that we have to have them here at a Schoolboard meeting when I look at proclamations and I've looked at several recently I don't see how they are actually making us a better place I'm not talking just about the ones about Pride but I have been to some meetings that I'm like why are we spending time doing proclamations we're all human beings we should
176look at each other and value each other not because of things that might be divisive but we should look at people as individuals and to do that we need to put aside putting people in boxes labeling people and just not taking a chance to get to know people on the surface by having a proclamation of anything whether it's to Proclaim pride month or to Proclaim Christian month which we would never have I'm sure but that does take people and put them in boxes I value that PO County School boards looks out for the uh safety of our students I think it's extremely important to do that but I also think that we should look at our students as a big group do the best we can for each of them them if a student needs
177some teacher to put them under their wing that is great I know my children had students that did that or teachers that did that when they were students I know I had teachers that did and I think that we would be much better served thinking of each other as people human beings that God sent to this earth thank you thank you Phoenix Mooney and then on Deck is Patricia Harvard ready good evening I'm Phoenix Mooney from Winter Haven thank you for allowing me a moment and thank you for your explanation of the pride Proclamation removal I see you now may I ask can you all see me good I didn't I left my invisibility cloak at home just making sure I can't ask you to see me the way that I see me I've seen
178me the same way for 30 years it's been a trip what you can see is a freshly colored new haircut you can see me in a blue shirt and blue shorts you might be able to see my mini tattoos and you might be able to see this giant knee brace that's on my knee what you probably can't see is a teacher that ripped their ACL playing with their kids at recess you see a spouse a pet parent and a friend you see a shoulder to cry on you see a performer an actor singer dancer and Puppeteer you see the bug killer you see the handyman you see an artist and if you haven't guessed it you see a jack of all trades master of none you see 1,378 472 words read this year to my
179class and for my own enjoyment and you see me coming second place to one of my students that took my Challenge and beat me you see see a super nerd a Gryffindor and a Lego Master model builder you see a teammate a dedicated hard worker and a person that comes in early every single morning and stays late every single night here's what my students say because I posted to them to see if I could get some of their words my students see a caregiver a safe space a creative Outlet an Inquirer and a master of the dad joke they see someone who doesn't expect total silence they see compassion and understanding they see agency and freedom and they see someone that's not afraid to be a bit off thewall and someone that's fun and exciting
180they see someone that shows up to their Sports their theater and their concerts they see someone that loves them and has their back we all have our stories and we all have our triumphs and traumas they are the building blocks of who we are but they are only one piece of the entire Lego build what you see before you as a non-binary human just trying to live their life you see someone that's afraid to use a bathroom in public because I'm not man enough for the men's room and I'm too manly for the women's room you see someone that has a weekly injection that finally makes me not feel broken and you see a suicide Survivor that realized I have a bigger person than living for myself I am more than my gender and more
181than my sexuality at the beginning I asked if you can see me and now I ask if you will see me will you see your LGBT staff and students will you stand with us and will you read the proclamation thank you thank you Patricia Harvard and on Deck is Sandra Saxton sorry Patricia Harvard yes yes and then on Deck will be the Sandra Saxon hello good afternoon on May 15th a video was brought to the school's attention showing another child at Blake Academy bringing a gun to school and shooting my daughter in the head in the hallway at school the school informed me there was nothing that they could do for on this matter and I needed to file charges which I did so with the resource officer officer Diaz they then interviewed both girls
182before I could get to school and they sent them both back to class saying that nothing there was no threat my daughter then called me from the bathroom because this little girl had then gone around the school saying she was going to find her mother and she was going to kick her ass my daughter was scared my daughter called from your bathroom at Blake Academy asking me to come and pick her up because I was her only safety I picked up my daughter from Blake Academy on May 15th and she has not stepped foot back in I went on may I went to the school May 16th asked the school if anything had been done if this little girl was still in class they informed me that this little girl was still in class while
183my daughter was sitting at home when she did nothing wrong I then proceeded to leave the school and go down to the p p County courthouse and file a restraining order I then came back to the school on May 18th with a re with a court date for May 31st in hand and asked the school resource officer if there was anything he could do miss Ava Brown the principal and officer Diaz informed me there was nothing that they could do and so I then you know of course upset and but miss Ava Brown informs me that my daughter could follow could finish out the school year at home and that it would be nothing she would her her absences would be excused and everything and that was fine um I then expressed my feelings because
184I brought forth all the Schoolboard policies and the harassment and everything and it stated that that little girl should have been removed from school immediately and she wasn't and um I expressed my dis satisfacation with the school and I was called within an hour saying that I was trespassed and not welcom back on campus um sorry continue I would like before I am according to board policy 1362 if a complaint is not resolved through an informal complaint process a formal process can be filed either orally or in writing with the district office I stand before you today to tell you I am filing a formal complaint I expect to hear from your complaint a next is Sandra Saxton and on Deck is Persinger Byron S I have the video of my granddaughter the video of
185the shooting I would like for yall to watch it I think once you watch this and you hear the children in the background screaming and the gunshots that you might stop and think that if someone's threatening a child that they're going to shoot them that that should be something that's handled immediately my granddaughter missed her fifth grade graduation because she didn't get to go back to school because it wasn't safe it wasn't safe because the te the principal and the people that are in charge did nothing they instead said uh we can't do anything it's it goes to the board and the board tells us what we can do I'm sorry but you have failed my granddaughter I would like for you all to watch this video I would like for everyone here to see
186this video because when you see this video you can't deny that this was something that should have been taken serious and something should have been done about this we live in a society where we have mass shootings every single day we have had mass shootings at our schools in the state of Florida it's it's uncalled for there should be a zero tolerance for like this excuse my language I cannot express to you how disappointed I was when I went to the school with my daughter to for her support to go to the principal to say what is going to be done for them to tell us nothing is going to be done that child who made this video on Tik Tok she didn't just make make one video about my granddaughter she made a video
187about another child same V same concept shooting them so I would like for you all to watch this video ma'am we don't have the capability to watch that this evening you I believe most of us have seen it but you are welcome to email it to us so that we I would appreciate all your email addresses thank you they are all on on the website okay I think all of you should see this video I'd be happy I'd be happy to share it with you next is Pur singer Byron s and on Deck is Deborah boblits whenever you're ready sorry you need my name because it's Brian Persinger oh I'm I'm so sorry Brian Persinger I don't write well and you guys had me do that it says Persinger Brian there you go um that
188incident is uh part ly involved in this uh the PO County Public School sent out an email to me that Friday on the 19th entitled uh the aware of the incident of Blake which it clearly says in here the reason it'll actually be taken is that it was not done on school property and thus not a situation where you can authorize to handle the matter or have school discipline and I don't know if you're aware I guess I posted it on your site for all the parents everyone send it to over a th you guys have these manuals they're yours it clearly states in section 5000 code 5 or 5500 in your conduct it doesn't matter where it's made it doesn't matter how it came to be once you know supposed to have action taken
189your bullying policy which is probably why these people don't feel safe because you don't follow it under D it says use of nons school it doesn't matter the location the program the function or the technical device if it is owned or not owned leased or used by District or School the state statute 1,641 147 two B legs D it's exactly verbatim you guys just copied it over because the states actually you makes sense and he completely disagrees with the statement you emailed me and lots of other parents and so I went forward to go well this this can't be right I went to the school they asked for copies of this and I gave it to them some ladies in the front friend no one wanted to help her do anything I called KY Kenny
190you're your press guy right and uh he had a meeting and he came back to me and said uh no we don't we don't want to do anything with it we're not going to send out the correct information because you I read this this is going to stop parents and people with information that could stop a school shooting from coming forward because it wasn't made at school that's what you told us and and that's insane and it's not even in your own policy it's against your policy so all I did was ask clearly send a message out with what your actual policy is since you sent the wrong information that's that's crazy that I have to have that conversation more than once no Mr I emailed you multiple times that's who uh C give me
191your email I sent it I did the message thing on your board uh many times I had conversation with uh Dr Ben Henry who regurgitated the same policy that it wasn't made on school grounds there's nothing we can do well it was I stood here in your lobby because I didn't know that she'd already been to school my son brought the video and I stood here in your lobby trying to get someone to talk to me about this video of a little girl getting shot at one of the school hallways and no one I went to five different buildings that you have and not one person called me back for a week thank you Deborah Bob Deborah boblitz and then on Deck is Pam loose on me okay hi my name is Deborah boblitz and
192my reason for addressing you today is concerning a book that is currently in a few pop County Schools I'm going to read a few excerpts from Pages 238 to 240 and believe me it's not a laughing matter which reads like a diary and in a few days I'm also going to be submitting a request for examination in order to have this book challenged and removed so here's a quote Daddy had been back to Kaylee for lollipop licking my term a few times she had a vague notion that this was wrong but she wasn't sure why and didn't know how to act ask so as usual the smell of wild turkey preceded daddy in the bright Moonlight you could see Kaylee cringe in Shallow sleep Daddy crept through the door to the side of her bed
193stood looking down for a very long time before stirring her with the volley of kisses cheeks forehead lips oh little girl do you know how beautiful you are no one was ever as lovely as you not even your mother when she was a child I can't believe your mine well she tried to sit up but Daddy pushed her gently back down against the mattress stay just like that for Daddy I want to teach you something new he lifted her night gown rolled it up over her belly coaxed her Thoroughbred legs apart don't be afraid this won't hurt you'll like it I promise he kissed the length of her torso down to the small naked V it was only his mouth that night he didn't even ask her to touch him prove how much she loved
194him at 10 it isn't exactly easy to separate good touch from Bad Touch proper love from improper love doting Daddy from perv end quote those are all from the book so there are many more scenes in this book than what I have time for obviously I didn't find any redeeming qualities in this book that would make this book worth staying in a children's library inside the back cover of this book tells us who the author is writing for quote author of 14 young adult novels unquote not children it's obvious that this child is being traumatized with sexual assaults throughout this book that started at a young age with her father so how can any competent educator think that this is not harmful to minors according to several Florida Statutes which Mr nut already said was
195847.011 847.011 6.34 that the material in this book as well as many others that you have in a lot of the schools right now are prohibited within any public school so please remove these obscene books from the school libraries thanks for your time thank [Applause] you ham loose and on Deck is Robert Goodman please remove them give her back for property yes Miss loose do you want to continue the meeting Miss loose good evening I want to speak this evening also on uh the incident at Blake Academy um especially the news release that was was sent out here from the district because there were so many inconsistencies and and things that were not correct in it number one it says we are aware of the incident at Blake Academy involving a student who made a
196Tik Tock video about another student it leaves out that the video was about another student shooting and killing a student in the school hallway so next says on Monday the video was reported to school staff who immediately began reviewing the incident and reported it to District staff we discovered the video had been created during the previous weekend not on school property and thus it was a situation we wouldn't have any authority over as Mr Persinger said chapter 106 .47 Florida statute states that it does not matter whether the video was made on school property and this has been confirmed by the Florida Department of Education Office of of safe schools this also is stated in board policy 55 517.13 601 technology resources also 55 17 anti-harassment also Echoes this as well as stating that this
197needs to be reported to a compliance officer within two days the parent is then to be contacted by the compliance officer when those within those two days and advised of the board's intent whether to investigate the incident when it was discovered that the child who M as you heard from the mother who made the video remained in the classroom and after a verbal threat against the victim's mother the mother removed the child from the school why was the child who made the video not the one suspended for the rest of the year and the child that received the threat allowed to finish their school year why is the victim the one who is punished this makes absolutely no [Music] sense Blake Academy met um with the with the parent of the alleged victim and also
198says School staff have also interviewed both students and conducted an investigation to determine if bullying has been occurring and again you know School staff have done the investigation this is not a school staff um thing especially where where a shooting is um involved the parents Behavior had escalated to the point of disrupting School operations which resulted in her being trespassed from the campus didn't have to escalate to this if it was handled correctly by the school and the law enforcement agency it never would have escalated to this thank you next is Robert Goodman and on Deck is Hunter [Applause] braner good evening I want to speak on a couple oh Robert Goodman from Lakeland Florida I want to speak on several issues tonight first I want to show support for the parent whose child was
199threatened with gun violence at Blake Academy this child who made the video could have been put on an inso suspension they could have been sent home there are so many ways this could have been handled we spoke to Grady Jud so as far as we understand until the state Schoolboard was contacted nobody got involved or did anything this is a big failure um the same week that this threat happened a 21 book anime series assassination classroom was challenged at 3 high schools if you're not familiar this graphic novel series is categorized as science fiction but the imagery is vivid it has a mass of Misfit students using rifles to assassinate their alien teacher and assassinate others there's graphic several images and the review panels from all three schools said were concerned with the violent imagery
200and sexual content however they all voted overwhelmingly to keep these books in school the exact same books were challenged week before in Oola County with the exact same outcome the superintendent of Oola County stepped in and pulled the books from every school in Oola the next day I'm asking the board and the superintendent to have the courage to do that here with all of the gun shootings and the threats even in a fifth grade classroom here a student is threatened like this and nothing is done we have to stand up when is it going to stop when a student is dead you take responsibility for this these books we've we I will be happy to buy you a set so you can look through all 21 volumes it it is science fiction they're shooting an
201alien teacher but the imagery looks like a mass shooting at an American school um and speaking of that I've heard a couple people talk about book Banning removing an inappropriate book like one that shows people being shot at a school from a from a public school library is not Banning a book if you go back to the times of Mae China what Banning a book was 30 days you had to get rid of all of the books in the country you had to burn them if you were caught with the books after 30 days you were assassinated or put in jail for 5 to 20 years that's what book Banning is the word that the terms that people use and they say oh you're trying to ban books that's a lie we're not going to
202let that lie exist anymore there are things that are age appropriate you can't show The Hangover in high schools you shouldn't show The Hangover in high schools but you can have a graphic novel book where kids are assassinating teachers something's not right stop the lies it's not book Banning it's all about age appropriateness you can't show an R-rated movie you can't have an R-rated book um thank you thank you Mr Goodman Hunter grastner Hunter brassner and on Deck is emit pervis good evening my name is Hunter brassner I am the vice president of the P County young Republicans I am a product of the P County School System uh we need to have a conversation about what truly needs to be proclam by the school board this Proclamation is an education this LGBT lgbtq alphabet
203Mafia agenda and the sexualization of our kids does not belong in our schools the Florida legislature has made sure schools school don't teach the sexualization of students and their peers at Young ages however places for example like simol County which we saw about two weeks ago I placed descriptions and stories of lgbtq students in a spotlight section of the yearbook first and foremost the student body does not dictate the final publishing of public school documents the school does School Board does what happened was lgbtq definitions were put into the yearbook and by definition they describe sexuality and the only way to teach sexual alities is by teaching children about sex which again the legislature has already ruled against that in addition we need to recognize that the spotlight section is for academic athletic and student
204voted on social achievements stating your sexuality in the yearbook and defining it is not an achievement and does not need to be publicated and defined to the rest of the students and their parents they're not the only ones getting the book students are the only one getting it so also family friends everyone else gets this everyone else sees this we need to have schools focused solely on education stem AP dual enrollment and hopefully the school board can get more acmis for trade school focused students P county is a big Agricultural and Industrial part of our state this Proclamation will really do nothing we can respect each other we can respect each other's students other people's life choices doesn't mean the school board has to go and back all that sexualization of students never ever ever
205should be in our schools it's for parents and students to decide on their own time it should not be put out by our school board please keep this out of our schools thank you for your time thank [Applause] you and last but not least emit peris thank you madam chair superintendent Hyde and board where do I start I want to thank uh super intendent Hyde and those involved for not having the proc Proclamation made I spent 10 years in in service for that flag and everybody under it I want to make a statement you're loved all of you God above loves all loves us please direct your comments to the board thank you thank you but I want to remind you of one thing look at the history of Rome we're not far behind and
206God is not far behind either we're on the brink and it applies to each and every one of us none of us are going to escape I also read one of the books that was in question Jack of Hearts it was so filthy I could not even attempt to read it over 30 or 40 minutes at the time and I had another book the last battle so as soon as I put it down I could get my mind off of it it did absolutely nothing added anything not one I ow to a school kids's education academic education it needs it's in Davenport Library it needs to come out out and I would ask each and every one of you and superintendent Hyde to pull that filthy garbage out of and there in any other school
207it may be in I wouldn't recommend it to my my worst enemy to read the kids are to get an education not a sexual education there's a difference between sex ed and what's being taught and I thank you for what you are doing right and as one of the people stated earlier I know you've got a tough job but we're here to help we're not here to hinder we want to see America go forward thank you thank you Mr pvis and with no further business to come before the board this evening this meeting is adjourned