School Board Meeting | February 28, 2023

001good evening if I could invite you all to please stand for the pledge and invocation and if I could have Pastor Jack from High Point Church join us at the front to lead us in the pledge indication I'm sorry don't steal Elijah's job let's pray father always our first words in prayer Our thank you because you are good because these are exciting days and because Polk County is a great place to be living them and we thank you for these folks who serve us as members of our board we ask you to guide them tonight Lord because the the work they do is important the decisions they make are critical and the lives they impact are precious to us and to you so we ask give them Grace and courage wisdom and courage wisdom to

002know what is Right courage to do it and we'll thank you in advance for it in Christ's name amen and if now I can have Elijah join us at the front to lead us in the pledge and yeah move that mic on down I pledge 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 right you may all be seated except for you Elijah so Elijah I have to say I think you are our best dressed pledge leader to date you look so nice in that suit I just am very impressed dressed to impress so I hear that you go to Willow Oak Elementary School what grade are you in fourth now did you bring anybody

003with you this evening I brought my mom uh my brother my teacher principal and vice principal wow can can your guests in the audience stand so we know who they are man you have got the best cheering Squad so what subjects do you like in school science and math science and math got some stem on our hands so do you know what you want to be when you grow up [Music] we have one vote for superintendent right I'd like to be a Musician musician what type of musician would you like to be if you play an instrument do you sing instrument what instrument um Congo's congas I like that very nice so what do you enjoy doing in your free time playing video games very nice listen we got Esports when you get into high

004school so keep your eye out for that but well thank you so much for joining us tonight we really appreciate you coming and leading the pledge with us and we will see you later have a great rest of your school year thank you [Applause] right we will now call this February 28 2023 school board meeting to order the first order of business will be to accept the agenda for the school board meeting superintendent high do we have any revisions there we go Madam chair item I number four School Staffing plan updates an item was added item q6 settlement of 2023 2024 Polk Education Association contract language attachments were updated item l number four administrative moves an item was added item p number one purchase of qualtrics LLC the item was moved to action to allow

005for discussion item T number one attorney's report settlement release agreement for class action lawsuit with Jewel and electronic cigarettes that item has been moved to the March 28th meeting that concludes any changes in tonight's agenda Madam chair thank you and I have a motion to two weeks just read Madam chair I'd like to make a motion to accept the February 28 2023 school board agenda with the revisions as noted second Miss Cunningham and Mr sharpless any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed and the motion carries and we will now move on to special recognition superintendent Hyde it's me and Madam chair at this time I'd like to ask board member Lori Cunningham to please step down to participate in special recognitions this evening at the same

006time I'd like to invite Ann Everett who started standing there senior director of acceleration and Innovation to come forward to recognize seven students who have been named to National Merit Scholarship semi-finalists good evening who is our senior curriculum specialist for Accelerated programs and Susan wilcoxon who is a senior coordinator for our high school school counseling program so they're going to assist tonight I'm super excited tonight to really recognize our National Merit semi-finalists we'd actually plan this recognition earlier in the year but as you can imagine these students are among our busiest and so tonight just happened to be the best night in the challenging scheduling world the National Merit program participants take the PSAT in the September of their junior year and then from those results on the PSAT the National Merit Corporation I'm sorry

007October of their junior year and then in September of their senior year the National Merit Corporation actually names the semi-finalists semi-finalists are in the top one percent of all students in the State of Florida and so it is a huge honor to be a semi-finalist and as you can imagine their mailboxes begin to fill with all sorts of offers from Elite programs around the country so then our finalists are announced in February and I'm super excited to share with you tonight that all seven of our semi-finalists are also National Merit finalists so we've kind of bumped it up a little bit so doubly excited tonight being a semi-finalist is a high honor being a finalist is a prestigious honor these students are highly sought after by our our most elite programs across the country and

008as a matter of fact in the State of Florida not a lot of people know this but National Merit Scholars are actually qualifiers for the benequisto scholarship program and that provides cost of attendance at nine universities in Florida and when I say cost of attendance it is their full tuition it is their books it is their room and board it is travel it is everything so you can imagine the value of being a finalist so we're super excited for them tonight so without further Ado we're going to recognize our National Merit finalists for the class of 2023 and when I call their name I'm going to ask that they come up to receive their recognition and to take a photo with Miss Cunningham and principals and heads of program are here this evening and if

009you'll come down and join your students for the photo so we're going to start with Davenport high school please join me in recognizing Gianna Jean Cara and her principal Alan DJ [Applause] um Gia we're going to have you stand right to the side because we'll take a group photo at the end perfect right there and from Haines City International Baccalaureate please join me in recognizing Payson keown and head of program Crystal Young [Applause] [Music] [Applause] from International Baccalaureate at Bartow High School we have four students this evening the first of which is James Barrios and if head of program Mandy Craven will come down and join us as well let's give him a round of applause [Applause] next we have Neil Dave also from International Baccalaureate at Bartow High School [Applause] next we have Elijah

010England from International Baccalaureate at Bartow High School [Applause] [Laughter] you see that's we have steps [Music] and lastly from International baccalaureate kashev Singh [Applause] and our seventh student tonight is Colin Wyatt from Lakeland senior high school and his principal Art Martinez [Applause] more congratulations and if we can get Round of Applause all the students back in front with Ms Cunningham and we'll take a group photo [Laughter] I don't think he's kidding the shortest ones congratulations oh wait wait stay there moms and dads one more smile anyone else congratulations again we're very proud of you guys [Applause] notice the big smiles I have to say thank you to Susie and John who entertained them quite properly they had snacks they had chips and soda and they're walking away with slippers which is a story for another

011day but they are well slippery this evening thank you so much and I don't know that you're allowed to say that and walk away from the microphone I'll find out board members and relay that story next is my absolute pleasure introduce Dr Pablo Martinez our world languages curriculum specialist who will recognize our very own Luisa Meyer of Bartow middle who has been recognized as Florida's foreign foreign language teacher of the year I'm not seeing them okay yeah we'll give it one moment okay I will make sure we reschedule that Miss Cindy Brayton principal of Davenport School of the Arts will bring forward their Lighthouse School certification by Franklin Covey education [Applause] thank you so much superintendent Hyde I just want to share I'm so proud of our students and staff for receiving this recognition because

012of their excellence in leadership culture and academics we were named Polk County School boards First Franklin covery cuffy Leader in Me Lighthouse school I'm turning it over to the stakeholders who made this possible and that's our students and our staff thank you it's Janice Katz my genius is synergizing with student leaders to organize school-wide events as a staff member I was there at the beginning of this journey when we did a book study together and we learned the Paradigm of change starts with me after all we can't expect our students to do things that we don't do ourselves being named a lighthouse school is most certainly a highlight but we realize it is not a final destination it's a stop along our journey we have some members of our student Lighthouse here Lighthouse teams here

013this evening and they're going to share what it's like to be on that student Journey with you so here is Hillary Cooper Riley and Heaven [Applause] hello I'm Hilary Bello my genius is helping people and acting the seven habits have greatly impacted my life habit number five seek first to be understand then to be understood has impacted me because it's the most important habit and you can understand both sides to do that we have to listen to everyone before we talk even in my personal life I have to come up with win-win situations to help everybody in my family all this takes time to perfect habit number seven which is about balancing finding balance in your life which can be hard for me sometimes but that's the beautiful thing about these habits you can go

014at the pace you feel comfortable with being a part of a leader in me school has helped me understand the importance of why you do things and synergizing getting to getting the chance to lead the student voice action team has helped me expand my leadership skills and communication skills having the chance to present both in front of my peers and as Symposium has given me the chance to understand synergize with my peers Davenport School of the Arts has made me feel a part of a family it has given me amazing friends and mentors thank you here is Cooper foreign good evening everyone my name is Cooper Katz and my genius is a jazz saxophonist The Habit that impacts me the most is habit 6 which is synergize and our jazz band and rock bands classes

015it is also it is all student-led and directed the students in Rock Band do everything from finding songs and helping to find parts to performing all on our own with a little help when it's needed from our band director to be successful in our Jazz Band We synergize once our teacher Mr Brown has given us the music and we've learned it it is all student-led and directed when Mr Brown does this he is using the core Paradigm number four Empower students to lead their own learning and band as well as other arts and academic classes when we use the habits it's not just to learn academics but to learn the whole person without teachers teaching like the way Mr Brown does using these core paradigms I would not be doing things like getting leads in

016school plays driving around the whole state of Florida performing or even presenting to you like I am today I'm thankful for all the things Davenport School of the Arts and the habits have helped me learn now here's Riley in heaven hi my name is Riley Leonard I'm a fifth grade student at DSi and my genius is creativity all students from kindergarten to 8th grade have a leadership portfolio that they add to each year students share their portfolio with their parents at student-led conferences my leadership portfolio has an All About Me section which includes my class school and personal mission statement my celebration section includes the things I have achieved this year both at school and home my leadership section includes my leadership victories at school and home as well as my strengths and good things

017others have said about me now here's heaven to tell you more about her leadership portfolio good evening my name is heaven belai I'm in seventh grade and my genius is playing the piano so in our leadership portfolios we have a my learning section in this section we have two charts where we graph our Ela and math scores this is my Ela part chart these charts let us see how much we have improved since our previous tests our goal every time we take the test is is to see our scores increase so if by any chance they do decrease our teacher helps us make goals that will help our scores increase in our leadership portfolios we also have a wig section which stands for widely important goals at Davenport School of the Arts we have three

018school-wide wigs which are progress monitoring community service and attendance at DSA we also have lead measures which used to be in our leadership portfolios but us students have found it much easier to track them by having it in our lead books which we bring to school every single day so everyone has a math reading and personal break we have lead measures which are also called action steps that help us achieve our goal or wig that we set with our teachers for example my math wig is to move up one achievement level and my action step to reach that goal is to do four or more topics in ALEKS each week every time I do do an action step I track it onto the calendar with a symbol of my choice and the calendar lets us

019to see if we have done our action steps or if we have not we even have accountability partners that keep us on track having goals and Lead measures have helped me with my learning overall in the past few years and have affected my life in very good ways now before I introduce the next speaker I would like to honor all of the lighthouse students that came today thank you now here's the next speaker Miss marakowski good evening my name is Mandy marakowski and I am a fifth grade math and science teacher at Davenport School of the Arts and I work with our fabulous Elementary Lighthouse team becoming a lighthouse school has been a collaborative effort between staff teachers students administrators parents and families and this is just a small part of our greatness and our

020genius that we have at DSA each and every day thank you and finally my name is Karen Westfall I teach kindergarten and I advise the Middle School Lighthouse team so I'm kind of all over the place my genius is creativity and I have grown through this framework both as a person and a professional but I've also seen my own personal children as a parent and as a teacher seeing my students grow through this framework and we can't thank you enough for having us here tonight each of our um students have a gift for our school board members that will be the leader in me book by Dr Covey and a QR code is found within that book that will give you a link to our presentation that we use for our Lighthouse certification that really

021allows you to see all of the ways that DSA shines through culture leadership and academics and a invitation to leadership day on April 28th it's a very special day at DSA [Music] thank you so much so now we need a good photo right group photo I'll ask Miss Brayton Miss Brayton [Applause] [Music] principal Brayton yes sir if I may I always want to confirm my accounts right because I'm working with Miami-Dade school math so 17 students and four staff were here tonight yes yes okay and then does the high school and I was hoping Mr duget had stuck around for a minute but since some of your students matriculate to high school is there a conveyance of this up to high school do they continue with the cubby they do not there's actually one other

022Leader in Me School in Polk County and it's Carlton Palmore and then there is a charter Polk County I mean I'm sorry Polk Avenue that is a leader in me Lighthouse school as well but those are the only three that do Lighthouse yeah well I may have a conversation with Mr dugier well and I will say continue the program throughout absolutely let me tell you it's very impressive thank you it's not easy to walk up to seven eight strangers and shake their hand and say thank you for having us but you all did an amazing job great eye contact you know so I'm really impressed by all of you thank you if you would if you're interested um see Hilary Bellow because she talked to me for 50 minutes on the way here about starting

023it when she goes to Davenport High School yeah absolutely okay all right thank you [Applause] what an amazing impressive group um Madam chair unless we have found Dr Martinez our last item for uh special recognition tonight is I'd like to ask Miss Jessica Anderson curriculum specialist to please come forward where she will recognize the Polk County school board for their support in agriculture's advocacy they got a long drive home yes they do board members I know there's a postcard in our books but just a reminder they have April 28th as their Leader in Me day so you should have already gotten an invitation to that but if you haven't been before it's really cool 28th leader day all right good evening I'm Jessica Anderson I'm the curriculum specialist in Workforce education office I cover the

024agriculture public service and industrial areas content areas and I'm here this evening to thank you for your support in Polk County agrofest for those of you that are not familiar with that this is year 34 of Polk County agrofest where we invite all the fourth grade classes to come to the Polk County Agricultural Center here in Bartow and we have industry leaders that along with some volunteers from the community host six stations where students can have an introduction to agricultural education those topics include phosphate beef cattle Citrus small farms Horticulture and Forestry so all of those topics are extremely important in agriculture to Polk County they employ a ton of citizens that live here in Polk County and we find it to be extremely important for our students to be aware of that this year

025you're 34 we have 4 603 students that will be coming to Polk County agrofest March 1st through the 10th which that equates to 214 classrooms district-wide we offer this to our Public Schools private Charter and homeschool students as well so it is open to everyone and um we are at Max Capacity this year so we'll be adding two more days next year to accommodate a few extra folks that may be wanting to get in there while we recognize that not everyone's involved in production agriculture these days we are all consumers of Agriculture so we find it to be imperative to continue agriculture advocacy to our students and to their parents in Polk County so we appreciate your support and on behalf of Polk County Farm Bureau they gifted you some strawberries to thank you as

026well that is their contribution they are one of the major Partners along with University of Florida ifas and then all of the partners with each of the stations that put agrofest together each year so just wanted to thank you for your support thank you [Applause] Madam chair Ms Cunningham this concludes our special recognitions for today thank you superintendent Hyde and next will be public comments for items on the agenda and before we begin I would like to both welcome the public and go over our public comment process for opportunities for this evening we will have two opportunities for public comment this evening the first will be for items on this evening's agenda to be voted upon and then at the end of the meeting we will have an additional opportunity for public comment on items

027that 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 clock will give you a warning sound when you have one minute left please give your name for the record and all comments should be directed to myself as the board chair as a reminder public comments are an opportunity for us to hear your thoughts and this is not a question and answer session however if you are seeking additional information I encourage you to contact any of us or the superintendent's office outside of board meetings and we would be happy to have deeper conversations before we begin there is a red line over here so if I say you are on deck if

028you could make your way to the red line and that'll just make it go a little bit quicker so first is going to be Stephanie Yocum and then on Deck will be Glinda White are you ready all right uh Stephanie Yocum I'm the president of the Polk Education Association I'm speaking on item q6 which is before you today for the ratification of our three contracts with some language revisions that are brought before you tonight um as you were told at the work session our units ratified this overwhelmingly uh last Tuesday night uh with teachers at 92 percent Paris at 93 our ESP is voting at 94 so we are as you also were aware uh this uh this evening this afternoon we are splitting the ratification into two sections this year into language so that

029we can get the language part taken care of and then knowing that we have a little bit more work ahead of us with the salaries as we look to fix compression in all three contracts we know that's going to take a little bit more time to really drill down to and and start working this through and so both parties wanted to come back together to get the language part done so that we could focus on the salary piece once the state budget is released um it's early May when the legislative session is over um as we have always done um we we encourage you to vote Yes tonight our units have overwhelmingly voted yes and we would like to continue that streak of the board also voting yes um there is language in here that

030is beneficial to all parties and we encourage yes vote thank you thank you Stephanie next will be Glinda white and on Deck is Bernard Wells hello everyone my name is Glenda white I'm a Winter Haven resident I want to address several issues on the agenda tonight first is what was item P qualtrics I have serious concerns about the purchase and use of qualtrics I'm concerned that uses will over time extend from evaluating teachers to collecting data from students if Polk schools collect information from students as part of the teacher evaluation process they have already opened the door to student data collection I'm concerned about the use of this software with its far left value system for Teacher evaluations will teachers who don't share woke values begin receiving poor evaluation once the tool is introduced let's

031compare qualtrics values to their largest major con competitor Survey Monkey survey monkeys corporate employees values include be accountable trust the team prioritize Health listen to customers and celebrate the journey qualtrics values include diversity equity and inclusion SurveyMonkey clearly focuses on the customer and qualtics on far left politics cost comparisons SurveyMonkey charges a subscription price of 75 dollars per month per user for a wide array of platform uses or thirty thousand dollars approximately over a three period three year period for 10 subscribers Polk schools are planning to purchase almost a half million dollars over the next three years for qualtrics taxpayers and the County Commission should be aware of the extreme amount of this purchase I understand the importance of effective and fair annual evaluations for teachers if we're to retain them however we don't have

032to spend a half million dollars to do it do Polk taxpayers want to support and enrich companies that subscribe to values that harm their kids and Nation I'm against this purchase I ask you to vote no and choose something that is reasonably priced and more amenable to poke values please do not approve this purchase I'm also wanting to speak on the item Q5 the proposed Mass purchase of books for schools is understandable since the time to spend Esser funds is going to expire however the book's number in the tens of thousands I'm asking the board to extend the time for public review to at least 60 days to allow for a fair public review of the books and bring up challenges to questionable titles we cannot possibly properly review all these books in 30 days

033and I have an additional comment all phone contacts on the website for school board members are there cell phones except for K fields we need to put their school board numbers on there so we can reach their staff and talk to them this should be taken care of immediately thank you Miss White next is Bernard Wells good evening my name is Bernard Wells and I will be speaking to agenda item L6 to staff and update whether the board considers the Staffing plan the reorganization chart uh that was discussed in the in the meeting earlier today I want to speak to that reorganization chart particularly concerning the learning support and my question to the board would be when has the board ever given a retroactive approval for an organization chart that has already been approved for

034the physical year it appears to me that superintendent Hyde is trying to make legitimate positions that are not legitimate on the organization charts where folks in those illegitimate positions have been working since August of 22. he and other high-level staff are attempting to match their dishonest Deeds by asking this board to vote approve and retroact 22-23 organization chart to cover up the dishonest deeds and deceptions that have been given to the general public and the staff of the Polk County School Board Mr Hyde public taxpayers are watching and monitoring all of your actions thank you thank you Mr Wells as we move into the consent agenda just a reminder to board members I've opened all of your mics please don't turn them off because we need to hear you vote so our first item will

035be our approval of the minute so D1 is approval of the minutes from the February 14 2023 school work session meeting and I will seek a motion for approval so moved second Mr sharpless and Miss Cunningham any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye in the motion carries all right our second set of minutes will be for the January 24th 2023 school work session meeting and I will seek a motion so move second Dr Allen and Mr sharpless any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed yeah and the motion carries and then our last set of minutes will be for the January 24th 2023 school board meeting I will seek a motion to approve the set of minutes move to approve

036second Miss Miller and Dr Allen any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I any opposed in the motion carries our next item will be the approval of the consent agenda and I will seek a motion to approve to approve second Miss Miller and Mr sharpless any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye hi any opposed and please make sure you're voting on your computer as well such I just got and the motion carries spinning all right superintendent hi do we have any new administrators there's several new administrators we'd like to welcome and introduce this evening we're first going to talk start with LA Troy Andrews assistant principal at Jesse Keane Elementary who is a new hire from Volusia County Public Schools please come forward

037say a few words introduce any family members you have oh yes ma'am this is your opportunity we got a nice little my phone hi good evening I apologize I thought I'm about to be read but I'm always prepared my name is LaTroy Andrews I'm super super excited I was actually getting up an opportunity to introduce myself to Jesse King I'm the newest administrator assistant principal at um Jesse King excited this is my second year as an assistant principal I was an administrative Dean in DeSoto County as well as in Orange County so I'm excited to be in Polk County as my family here we serve here for about eight years in Polk County so I'm welcomed I'm glad to be home do you have any family here tonight do you like to introduce her I

038do not my husband's doing Bible study so okay and my son is is in basketball so I apologize so absolutely it's good so what they're excited I do have the support of my family so congratulations thank you very much I appreciate it just one moment I'm gonna one moment I'm gonna take a selfie [Applause] it is without a doubt a very different generation of Administrators in a million years I wouldn't have thought to do a selfie out there good for you good for you [Laughter] kids are gonna have a good time and I want to make sure I pronounce this right is it Torah or Tara thank you whoever phonetically spelled this did not do it McDowell director of payroll has been promoted to senior director of payroll hello everyone I have been mispronouncing your

039name for the last few weeks and you've been too kind correct I am deeply honored and humble and Incredibly excited to be standing before you tonight I accept this role in responsibility of the senior director of payroll I would like to thank the board superintendent High Jason and Heather for your trust and continued support as I take on this new role I would also like to thank Dana she's watching she would have been here tonight for the long nights in training and support encouragement that she has given me to prepare me for this role I lastly like to thank my parents Harry and Jerry McDowell who is also here tonight my son Tyler who is also here tonight and my mentor is Mr Jason and Laquita Looney um and families and friends and colleagues for

040all your support I look forward to continuing serving to this great District of Polk County thank you so while she takes her photo I do want to note that Ms McDowell is a prime example of succession leadership Miss Torres and I hope she is watching we owe her a debt of thanks as you know when I first arrived I interviewed every single Department to find out what our succession leadership plans were going to find out that many did not have anyone in in the pipeline this is a department that stood out and Dana prior to her departure spent a long hours and nights making sure that she's prepared as she continues to support her they've got such a great working relationship but I just wanted to hold that up as a shining example of of

041what we need to do to make sure that the next generation of leaders are ready to fill those voids and take on the new charge and she's done an amazing job she hit the ground running she did not hesitate when I asked her if she was interested in the position and kudos to her and her family so thank you very much for all the time you give us thank you next we have Heather Whiteside testing coordinator at Rochelle School of the Arts who's now been promoted to assistant principal at Willow Oak Elementary [Applause] [Music] [Applause] good evening first I would like to thank the board superintendent Hyde Deputy superintendent Greene and Dr Henry for this opportunity I have been very fortunate to work for and learn from some very amazing administrators Julie Ward Rebecca Ekman

042Carol Griffin Carolyn Bryant and Lee brackman I'm looking forward to learning and growing even more with Michelle Townley at Willow Oak with me tonight I have my son and my mom and my aunt I have several friends any colleagues oh there we go they're kind of all spread out so I'm very thankful again and thank you so much and know that every day is a great day to be a blue jay congratulations [Applause] next we have Miss Jenna short director for personnel being promoted to senior director of personnel I do not see her with us this evening okay Ashley Lamb school-based school-based math coach at Purcell Elementary has now been promoted to acting assistant principal at Purcell Elementary congratulations [Applause] to when I was in pre-k that I was going to be a teacher because

043I fell in love with Miss Tanya and she had a profound impact on my life and so I have spent many years in Mulberry being a Miss Tanya and striving to have an impact like she had an impact on me so I'm very excited to be back in Mulberry with Purcell and so many of the kiddos that I knew from Kingsford so many familiar faces so I'm just you know very excited to serve them and to love them in this capacity and the whole crew is here I have four children they're all over scattered over there my husband and my mother-in-law is here we get a wave there we go and as we always do we want to thank families because the commitment and time and effort that our administrators put in each and every

044day means it's time away from their own family and loved ones and so we appreciate your continued support as well so thank you very much and lastly we have a transfer Eric atheson otheson pardon me assistant principal at Purcell Elementary is transferring to be the assistant principal at Frostproof Ben Hill Griffin Elementary I do not see him with us this evening okay that concludes new administrators for this evening Madam chair moment for everyone who doesn't want to stay for the rest of our party to head out this really is the most exciting part I'm sorry you're gonna miss it but I understand I heard that they're Wheeling their back right now 10 minutes ago they're Wheeling Baptist Church board members were you all able to get back into are we still having problems with board

045Docs try it on the Queue is it it's popping up to vote on your screen it's popping up to vote for board doc no you may need if you go to meetings you may need to join the meeting I did I've been in it the whole time okay go back and join just but if I say yeah they should know this is crazy all right moving on to our action agenda the first item on our action agenda is q1 which is the purchase of qualtrics so the motion will seek a motion to approve the purchase of qualtrics LLC teaching and learning and the amount of 468 881.25 over a three year period go ahead so move second I have Dr Alan and Miss Cunningham any discussion superintendent hide I believe you we're going to have

046somebody prepared at this time Mr McNaughton would please come forward superintendent Hyde uh first I'd like to start off by saying qualtrex will not have any access to student data or students will not have access actually to qualtrex yes are you really sorry about that I know um I was also talking to Michelle come in the back this is not going to be used for the teacher evaluation system of our student our walkthroughs for the standards-based walkthroughs so she knows that this is not part of the evaluation system uh Polk County Public Schools is requesting to work with qualtrics to create and host two different data dashboards for the district standard-based instructional walkthrough tool and a new District created walkthrough tool for the corrective reading intervention programs uh the questions on both the walk through

047tools and the district created qualtrics will will make those we'll make the questions for qualtrics will only make our tool electronic so data can be entered in an administrator's device and then displayed on a custom displays where the school and District leaders can analyze the data and to check for Fidelity of implementing the programs uh only school and District leaders will have access to the electronic tools and dashboards students will not have access to the qualtrics created electronic tools or dashboard also qualtrics is not providing any questions or any curriculum for the tool quatrax is making our district created electronic form electronic so that data can be displayed so actions be can be taken to increase student outcomes qualtrics will have no access to individual student data such as a student's name school age scores

048qualtrics is we'll be using classroom data that is entered by a district or School leader for the standards-based walkthrough tool the data will include for the standard Focus board is The Benchmark posted is the teacher using the Benchmark to guide instruction are students using it to guide their learning for instructional delivery that's is does the instruction match the focus board or does the materials use align to the benchmarks for using appropriate use of formative and summative assessments it's talking about teachers are conducting ongoing learning checks it's also saying does the activity meet and determine the level of Mastery of the benchmark for our corrective reading walkthrough form would include what is the corrective reading level of the classroom what lesson is the lesson on and classroom look force similar to The Standard base walkthrough form

049we're still working on that and I'll get that to you uh when it is complete uh qualtrics was chosen because they will create custom data displays and they also allow for leaders entering the data to take pictures of artifacts in the classroom such as instructional tasks and assessment items to better capture the student experience in the classroom pictures will not be taking of any students qualtrics is used in 32 different entities in the State of Florida and this includes five school districts which is Pasco orange the Vol seminal and Florida Virtual School 12 colleges and universities including Florida State University the University of Florida University of Miami University of South Florida and University of Central Florida and nine State of Florida departments such as the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Service Department of Children and

050Families Department of Transportation and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in conclusion quadrics will not have access to student data or pictures and students will not have access to this thank you any other discussion thank you Mr McDon yeah all right seeing no further discussion all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed and the motion carries the next item is Q2 bellacita Elementary name Amendment and I will seek a motion to approve the recommended name Amendment Amendment Amendment from bellacita elementary to bellacita okay I'd like to make the motion to approve the recommended name from bellacy to Elementary to bellacita second Miss Cunningham and was that Mr sharpless your voices sound very similar on my left side so I apologize Miss Cunningham and Mr sharpless and is there any discussion Miss

051Cunningham thank you madam chair um the naming committee met last week on Wednesday February 22nd 2023 at bellacita elementary school we had members from our community represented parents District staff School staff and and myself and it was a great time where we had an opportunity to discuss um several different names that were being presented both by the community and by the teachers at the school and we had a lively discussion and ultimately we bring to you today's recommendation as it was a unanimous vote to bring forward the name just the name bellacita thank you Miss Cunningham any further discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed and the motion carries next on our agenda will be Q3 the Polk County value adjustment board appointments and just as a

052reminder at our last work session we discussed meeting new appointment and Alternate because the timing changed a little bit for those meetings and we discussed Miss Fields being the district liaison and then myself being the alternate so we'll seek a motion at this time to appoint K Fields as the district's liaison to the Polk County value adjustment board and Sarah Beth Wyatt as the alternate so moved second Mr sharpless and Miss Miller any discussion I just want to thank both Miss Fields as well as Miss chair Wyatt for stepping up to the plate originally I was I was on this committee but um there was a confusion about the time it met and so I just want to thank you both for stepping up and serving Austin any further discussion seeing none all those in

053favor signify by saying aye aye aye any opposed and the motion carries Q4 is our half cent sales tax oversight committee appointment so I'll seek a motion to approve Nicholas L Francisco to the half cent sales tax oversight committee so I moved Mr sharpless and Miss Miller any discussion Mr sharpless thank you um so Mr Francisco actually came up and approached me about wanting to help our school system and serve and specifically for the sales tax oversight committee he has a good experience um he's got a engineer kind of mind and I think that's something that's important to add to a committee like the half cent sales tax oversight so when someone comes up to you and wants to serve you find a place to help them serve and I think this will be a

054very great opportunity for him in all right seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed in the motion carries next will be Q5 which is the purchase of library books for elementary schools K-8 middle schools middle senior and high schools so I'll seek a motion to approve titles that are on the attached book list move to approve second Miss Miller and Dr Allen any discussion seeing none nope Mr sharpless sure um I was uh wondering if superintendent Hyde you could speak to the opportunity the public has um for comment into this uh the book adoptions in general um potentially why all these were grouped together and for one for one large purchase um if you can't speak to that oh I I addressed that last time at the last

055meeting but I'll go feel I'm more than happy to readdress that issue so um I'll start with this purchase this purchase if you recall when we established our criteria at the beginning of the school year for textbook purchases and Library materials purchases in order to be in compliance with State Statute and the expectations we told schools that they would not be able to buy books throughout the school year for their media centers we put them each on a specific calendar in which they would have to submit their book order request so that they could be reviewed by our certified staff The District staff did that over several months and then brought this comprehensive procurement even though it's it's not one large procurement um on behalf of the necessarily the district it's a culmination of procurements

056for all of our elementary middle and high schools which is why the list is incredibly long most of the books as you know I've been are already in some of our circulation so all of our schools do not have exactly the same books but any book that was procured was in alignment with books that are already existing in our school district none of the previously challenged books and to my knowledge are included in this list anyone moving forward as we did last time with the procurement and so 30 days has since passed since the last approval for the board for Library materials that was the adoption period for public review or the public review period in which someone could contest one of those materials so now after 30 days have passed without any notice from

057anyone as to having concerns with any of those materials they will go ahead and initiate the purchase order the same holds true for this purchase there will be 30 days in which we will hold the procurement following the procurement any Polk County resident still retains the right to challenge a book at the individual School level and there is a process outlined in board policy and in statute and rule that state speaks to how we have to provide and perform those reviews and at which time they can challenge the book at the individual School level so again there's two remaining opportunities for any stakeholder one in the next 30 days if the board were to approve this purchase they may contest an item and then we would conduct a review number two once purchased at any

058time in the book's future someone can protect protest or ask for a book to be reviewed again and just a follow-up question so if this is approved tonight when will these books actually when will students actually have access to these books more than likely not until the beginning of the upcoming school year because 30 days has to pass before we can actually initiate to PO we then have to take delivery of all these books they all have to be barcoded and then manually entered into the destiny system and again that would then provide parents with the opportunity to object or opt out of any books for next school year that would be new additions to their current School Campus Library so I would anticipate the amount of time it would take for all of these

059things to be delivered not only to the school district but then to be single point delivered back to individual School sites barcoded entered into Destiny made available to students we're looking August September of next school year so if anyone were to protest a book they and basically have and for any student actually has access to it would be all the way till next school year correct okay well yes and no if that book is new to that school but is in existence in another Library I want to make sure we clarify that some of these books are renewed purchases of other books we've already purchased but may not be included in every Elementary library hopefully that makes sense it does okay that's all my questions yes sir mission on Q5 seeing none all those in

060favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed and the motion carries last but not least on our action agenda will be item q6 settlement of 2023 2024 Polk Education Association contract language and I will seek a motion to approve the Polk Education Association revised contract language for teachers para Educators and educational support Personnel pending ratification by the bargaining units which is no longer pending ratification because right they already ratified okay so not pending ratification okay okay Madam chair I make a motion to approve the Polk Education Association revised contract language for teachers para Educators and educational support personnel second Miss Cunningham and Miss Miller any discussion Miss Cunningham thank you I just want to say I said it in the work session I'd like to say it here tonight at the board meeting I'm

061very proud of the work that our staff has done along with Miss Yocum with Polk Education Association as I said earlier today we might be on two ends of the spectrum but the bottom line is we have to do what's right bottom line for our students and taking care of our teachers and our Personnel is very crucial and important to that end so I just want to say thank you to Mr Pitts and his team superintendent Hyde for your leadership Miss Yocum for your leadership in bringing the group together to take this very first step in moving forward and let it be noted that the language in here they've extended it an extra year to 2026 and I think that's one of the first times we've ever been able to do that so I'm very

062proud of the work and the effort and I just want to say thank you on behalf of the kids because they're the ones that are going to benefit thank you madam chair thank you Miss Cunningham any further discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye any opposed and the motion carries right next will be our superintendent's report yes ma'am Madam chair the next work session and board meeting will be held on March 28th 2023 the work session will begin at 12 30 pm and the board meeting will begin at 5 PM the meetings will be held at the district office located in 1915 South Floral Avenue in Bartow I'd also like to give a shout out to our lady Winter Haven ladies Blue Devils got to watch them Saturday night play

063in the state finals they led the entire game got to the fourth quarter it became very close other teams sank two three-pointers in a row and it went down to the very last second and we almost got the inbounds pass stolen and I have no doubt that those ladies would have triumphed at that time but I'll tell you they played amazingly well great sportsmanship it's a very young team so I'm excited at the opportunities that still lie ahead of them we had several other teams make it up to the tournament Lakeland and others unfortunately did not were not able to pursue please in the bracket Friday Winter Haven boys will play at 2 30 for a chance to play in the state championship on Saturday and then also I'd like to give a lot of

064credit to uh Ryan Van and Blake Gibson High School they have 12 State wrestlers going to tournament this weekend I'm sorry I just realized Ms Miller said I'm stealing her thunder so I will stop there but what an amazing team that they've built over the years what a legacy they've created there so it'll be exciting hopefully some of us can get over there and watch that tournament over in Kissimmee Saturday is also the red carpet event for Harrison School of the Arts and their silent auction so that's a great opportunity and again this is a great time of the year to celebrate our students you saw academic success modeled here throughout the evening whether it was the Merit Scholars and the finalists or the other students that came in from from Davenport School of the

065Arts really Exemplar exemplifying what it is to be a strong student leader but we have those examples across our school district and that's why I try to take the opportunity to highlight them and not just in athletics we have some amazing students across the board so we should take every opportunity to recognize them and the amazing team of dedicated staff we have that support and nurture that craft so thank you for the opportunity this evening that concludes the superintendent's report thank you superintendent Hyde and Mr Bridges thank you ma'am have a single item that we discussed at work session earlier this is approval of the proposed workers compensation settlement between Sandra spring Kane and School Board of Polk County and the the motion would be motion to approve the proposed workers compensation settlement between Sandra

066spring Kane and School Board of Polk County Florida in the amount of 254 600 666.66 inclusive of permanent total disability benefits temporary benefits lost wages past medical expenses future medical expenses claim attorney fees are required Medicare set-aside agreement and any and all other claims arising out of the work related injury and to authorize the board chair and the superintendent of schools in the general counsel to execute all related documents incident to the settlement of this claim and all that is necessary to make that motion is is to say so move thank you Mr Bridges I will seek a motion yes basically we're approved the motion to approve the proposed workman's compensation settlement yes ma'am Sandra spring came and the school board of Polk County Florida in the amount of 254 666.66 and we need a

067second Miss Cunningham and Miss Miller any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed and the motion carries thank you madam chair and we'll have for you at the next board meeting the item that was originally scheduled for tonight but we'll have it at that time thank you Mr Bridges thank you man and next is Miss Matthews internal auditor report session the revisions are necessary to incorporate changes in Florida statute 1001.42 that outlines the requirements for internal Auditors of District school boards thank you Miss Matthews and I'll seek a motion to approve the revised internal audit Charter to include changes in Florida statute and position title so move second Dr Allen and Mr sharpless any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye

068any opposed and the motion carries and next we will go to board reports and we will start with Dr Allen thank you madam chair and just wanted to say congratulations to miss Andrews she was that really cool young lady that took the selfie for her new position at Jesse Keane I think she's going to be a great fit under Dr dentley it was also great to see previous principal of Jesse Kane Mr Griffin and the audience who has retired with the within the school district and he is still so active and serving our students around the district and so many different capacities so thanks to Mr Andrews and the energy that she's going to be bring to our students if you noticed as well we've got somebody that's a little bit more clean-shaven tonight so

069I just wanted to say thanks to superintendent Hyde for taking part in the save it or shave it uh fundraiser with the United Way and I think they did a really good job the goatees looking pretty good on you there and I'm sure miss Patty is quite happy um that it was not saved and then lastly I just want to say thanks to the board members for allowing me to participate in the Florida School Board Association Finance forum and it was very enlightening and again an opportunity to learn and to grow and to add items to our tool belt as it relates to school finance and look forward to just serving and understanding that and growing in that moving forward so thank you madam chair that's all I have thank you Dr Allen Miss Cunningham

070thank you madam chair I've got a couple items the first is uh I want to say a kudos to miss Lana Stripling for being able to host the Northeast Polk Chamber of Commerce annual luncheon that recognizes our teachers of the year and our school-related employees of the year in Northeast Polk County which encompasses the towns of Dundee Haines City Davenport loffman and Poinciana we had a wonderful luncheon it was very well attended most of the principals were there to accompany their teachers and school-related employees of the year and I thought it was really nice I think it's the first time that the chamber worked hard to get sponsors so each of the principals and their teacher and school-related employee of the year had a complimentary lunch to tell them thank you and how much we

071appreciate the work that they do so it was a great lunch and so thank you to the chamber for continuing this Legacy in Northeast Polk additionally as we all know we've had some safety issues around the county I know particularly in in the east side of the county um we've had some really awful accidents and they I think could have been prevented with a little bit of better safety measures on all of us I was talking with one of the moms from Davenport School of the Arts where this situation occurred about two weeks ago and she works for Disney and she said to me do you know what our slogan is and I said no ma'am I don't she said if you look everywhere when you go on Disney property it says safety it begins

072with me and so through all of this and most of you may have read what happened I'm not going to go into that into people's personal lives but it's been one was a tragedy in Lake Wales and then we had a young girl severely injured Davenport High School so I talked to superintendent Hyde and I said you know what can we do because when you think about it safety does begin with me I need to make good choices where I walk do I look both ways before I cross the street it's the little things that make a difference and so I know superintendent is starting a safety campaign to go across our district and I don't know if you can two sentences if you want to just add to what I have to because I

073think it's really important it's on the minds of so many parents today because of these needless accidents that are occurring hurting our kids I mean what's the point of send them to school if they're going to get injured but safety begins with me and we need to get that message out to everybody superintendent how would you just say a few words sir so there are several things that we're working on we just recently surveyed all of our campuses to determine which ones may did not have adequacy of egress crosswalks flashers safety those safety features we normally associate with schools we're working more closely with law enforcement to make sure that they have a heightened visibility and presence during school hours we did especially for that school those two schools in particular got all their flashers

074repaired got additional Street lighting installed the sidewalk is in progress the engineers just had a concern where the crosswalk might be but we haven't we have an informational campaign we launched last week starting with a letter that went home to parents there will be more posters and information and flyers available in our schools we also asked Mr Talbot and his team they teach pedestrian safety through our elementary curriculum through the health curriculum so they'll be teaching that now twice a year uh normally it's taught in the spring which you know as we talked about it doesn't make much sense to teach it towards the end of school year let's move it to the start of the school year to make sure pedestrian State safety remains a highlight um and again that whole really talking with

075students be present when you're crossing streets we now have a tendency to stare at our devices we have our earbuds in we have our hoodies on we have hats on and in those dim early morning hours all it takes is one slight moment where we make a mistake we walk out in front of traffic or we do those things and the last thing we need is another tragedy for our students or anyone else even injured for that for that matter so we've got to get people to slow down and realize that school's in session in the sheriff's department as you know partners with us to make sure that he messages that each and every year so a lot of a lot of initiatives are still development there'll be a series of videos that are released

076as well for families and students so that they can we continue to reiterate the message it won't just be a one-time message it'll be something because that's consistently discussed throughout the year as a reminder thank you and I have one more thing Madam chair um spring break is approaching so I wish everybody some time to relax and rejuvenate we all need some time off to kind of recharge however as I always say readers are leaders so I encourage every parent out there with the wonderful Library Cooperative system that we have throughout Polk County take your kid to a library check out some books and make sure that they continue to read to not lose the skills that they've learned thus far this year over that week break so readers are leaders continue to read thank

077you so much Madam chair that concludes my report thank you Miss Cunningham Mr Nolte thank you madam chair and thank you superintendent and I concur with uh what Dr Williams Dr Alan said yeah Dr Allen said in uh what Ms Cunningham said um we've got some great learning going on out there in Polk County I've been all over the place in South Lakeland and thereabouts I've seen awesome concerts I've been in different functions fairs visits and we've got some great teachers and some great Pairs and just some super people all the way across the board that work here in Polk County and uh I just hope that when they have that Tallahassee Senate and House hope they can find some more greenbacks to send down here and especially people in the middle of the pack

078of the teachers because I was a teacher for 36 years plus and uh it's tough to see that first year teacher getting the big money which they deserve but I'd like to see that spread out and I know that superintendent Heiden were working on it and we're crushing the numbers and hopefully we can get it done um and what you said about the spring break I wish everybody a super spring break pay attention I had somebody walk in front of me this morning at a crossing and I I was going you know 15 miles an hour and I had a feeling the kid wasn't paying attention he had the ear pods in and he just walked right smack dab in front of me so uh as a parent I definitely would tell uh my son

079and my daughter don't even put them in the ear I wouldn't even take let him take him to school but anyway that's a side point but uh be aware of your situation around you you've uh only got a split second sometimes and if you make the wrong decision you won't be here tomorrow but uh you you parents and grandparents and Guardians please keep coming keep uh keep on the PTO keeping the PTA keep backing your schools keep after after us and um uh just uh know that we can all work together and make this the best school system in Florida so again Happy Spring Break and thank you so much from everything God bless thank you Mr Nolte Mr sharpless yeah skipped over uh over you right um so there's a lot that I want

080to cover I'm going to be very I'm gonna try to be very succinct um first I was I had the opportunity to judge the Parliamentary procedure contest for our district eight which is our County FFA contest um these kids uh at the at the Parliamentary procedure contest probably could give us all a lesson up here uh on parliamentary procedure because they were top-notch and I wish them the best when they compete at the state contest in June um also I was able to attend the scenic K-8 topping out ceremony um interesting model if you guys would ever ever want to learn about what's happening at Scenic K-8 um interesting model the way to build a school and so it's something that I think we need to continue to pursue um the Cambridge I got to

081also Tour Winter Haven High School's Cambridge program and I came away very impressed so a big shout out to uh both uh the principal as well as the head of program there um I I actually I believe I was the only board member that attended the shave it or save it uh event and uh Miss Crowley I saw her earlier here um she did ask me next year if I would be willing to do the shave it or save it with my mustache so uh so I I did I did ask my wife because any any man knows he got to run all major decisions uh past uh past your significant other so she did give me permission so if if we're doing it again next year it's you heard it here first yes if

082if it's a continued next year I will do shave it or save it um so I'm excited I'm excited if we do that first save it or shave it um along with a board member Nolte and Dr Allen we did get to go to the school Finance forum and I just want to make sure the public understands the way our schools are funded is pretty complex the fefp uh system uh the formula that's the way we're funded I I mentioned I met with a board member there from Duval County and they're in the process of trying to make something um more digestible to the public for them to understand how schools are funded and so I um I mentioned that to superintendo Hyde and maybe depending on what they're doing we might be able to

083implement something like that here in Polk County just so you guys can understand how schools are funded um also was able to meet with the youth leadership Winter Haven and I'm probably stealing your your all right um great great students they were from all over Winter Haven um asked very good questions um you know fellow board members if we ever really want to know what's happening in schools Let's go ask our students they're going to tell you and they're going to give you some honest feedback I can tell you that for sure um three more things events that I want to cover All County guitar concert that happened at Lake Region High School we have some amazing guitarists in our County um was was really impressed and so make sure you go out and support

084our Arts with that as well last last Saturday I uh me and my wife had a date night and we went to Harrison uh School of the Arts so as a board member sometimes date nights can look a little different and so we went and we actually got to watch them perform Alice it was a great play in their black box theater so if public that's listening if you ever get an opportunity Harrison School of the Arts does an amazing job and I also want to look at some of our other schools too and go to some of those plays but I I've only personally went to Harrison amazing job there um the last event that I went to uh Lincoln Avenue Academy had their 30th year celebration I didn't really know much about Lincoln

085Avenue Academy before going and I was really impressed the way the school the culture at the school I mean they had this was really neat one of the parents that spoke at the at the event was a kindergartner when it opened and he has three sons there and that really came away it just spoke to me and it said hey this person valued the education they received from Lincoln Avenue Academy and they are wanting their children to have that same kind of education and so it really spoke well to me and last thing I want to mention um you know throughout the campaign Trail and um throughout my time as a elected official you hear you hear people um make comments and one thing I want to I want to be clear about our teachers

086our school staff care about students I come from a family of educators my wife was very close to Deputy Blaine Lane who was tragically killed in the line of duty last night one of my students was in a bad car accident from Warren University I'm waiting to hear back her status but my wife and I aren't we're not um unique in this our school staff our teachers along alongside parents we feel the grief when things happen like the tragedy that's happened in our recently with um some of our students passing away um and so I just want to thank all of our teachers all of our school staff that truly care about our students and that's it thank you Mr Sharp sharp chair I won't repeat some of the great events that we had going

087on um over the last few weeks I did want to mention um that we I was lucky enough to host Congressman Scott Franklin at Bartow High School to surprise one of the gems that we have there Mr Giles who runs our construction it's called the ace Academy it's the Academy of Architecture construction and engineering and I got to meet the team of students that he took to Las Vegas and I can tell you it was heavily girls on the team I was super excited about the girl power and construction but they were given a challenge to construct and build a home the plans for a home in Las Vegas using using the laws there using the market value and our students won first place in high schools in this in the country and Jimmy Giles

088had a lot to do with that he's an amazing teacher and so the congressman was super excited to surprise him and then we took him over to Summerlin which is our military high school and he got to talk to students one one who's waiting back to hear from West Point and some of these students who really want to work their way into the academies and and go into different different Services I want to say that those kids there first we did do fun stuff like take them into the airsoft rifle range and let him you know try to do that he's a lefty so that was fun the kids were laughing as he tried to maneuver their rifles but it was a great learning experience for our students we have all kinds of learning experiences

089in Polk so if you haven't made it around the district you really should there's lots of opportunities as mentioned and our new board member is working overtime I told him to attend everything and we appreciate that I want to mention that Auburndale will have a parade this Thursday for the Auburndale cheerleading team they were state champions and so they'll be marching from the high school down to City Hall which if you're from Auburndale they take a lot of pride in that so if you're in the area and love to join them or cheer them on cheer on the cheerleaders Wednesday March 1st at 3 P.M in downtown Auburndale you can you can join the parade and the superintendent did mention my school which is okay I want to say that out of the 12 wrestlers

090going to State there's a girl and she is favored in her division so I expect that she'll come home a state champ so I'm super excited that we have um a good group going and out of those all of those kids it's it's amazing to see what our what our students do whether it's in the Arts or in athletics and so I'm proud to be a part of that in District Seven and across and across the entire County I think that's all I have Madam chair thank you thank you Miss Miller and I will keep my comments brief because superintendent Hyde also stole my exciting news but just more congratulations to the lady Blue Devils and I am fully expecting our boys basketball team to come home with the state championship so I'll let you

091know when the parade is going to be at the next meeting and I do just want to say thank you again to both Dr Allen and Mr sharpless who came to out to speak to the youth leadership Winter Haven students they are sophomores and juniors and very passionate about their education and they did not Dodge any question as hard or left field as they may have been um and superintendent Hyde as well got to speak to them in the afternoon so I know you all prepared him well from what I hear with some of the tough ones they threw out but I think they brought lots of things to our attention for example just being able to access different resources on their one-to-one devices because we have such tight restrictions currently because we're we're new

092to one-to-one devices but making sure that there's a way for them to go on and Report hey this is a resource that I'm trying to use for a paper I'm writing I need to be able to access it so that we can vet those and make sure that they have access to the resources that they need and so thank you all again for coming out and speaking with that we will go into our final section of the agenda for this evening which is non-agenda items for public comment um again just as before all speakers will be given three minutes the clock will give you a warning sound when you have one minute left and when you have 30 seconds left and as a reminder you must have registered to speak before the meeting and sorry

093those same sections um you must have registered to speak before the meeting and please note that although we encourage Community participation no immediate action will be taken on any items presented at this point during the pub during this public comment portion of the meeting if follow-up board action is required then the matter may be placed on agendas at a subsequent meeting in accordance with school board policy so our first speaker for non-agenda items will be Jackie Bullock and on Deck will be Taylor Hamilton and just for those of you that may not have been in the room at the beginning if you're on deck if you could go stand behind this red line it would be greatly appreciated Jackie Bullock yes yes um I am here today as a volunteer and uh monetary contributor and

094a member of the sac committee at Lake Region High School I am representing the students and the athletes that I work with I have the honor of this year of um having their pregame meals for a football team and teenagers are always hungry by the way and um our students at Lake Region come from many different types of home life some simply dysfunctional some low socioeconomic summer considered homeless some students don't even want to go home at night they look to the teachers who work with and Coach an extracurricular activities this year I have watched these students I get a little emotional because I love so much stressed with fear of losing their coaches and teachers they look these are the teachers that they look to for guidance and stability and constants in their lives

095these leaders have the passion to help and go the extra distance that it takes for these students there are many needs of these students I have been in several meetings this year where this Administration we have has emphasized that Lake Region is broken so broken Lake Region is not broken we needed a little discipline but we have great students great teachers and great coaches we have six positive programs our iMac Academy ROTC culinary AG Medical Academy and Athletics three of which have been under attack one severely being Athletics by this Administration Athletics is what keeps these kids grades up and out of trouble and we need that and we need it to continue as it is like region one an award for good sportsmanship from the state of Florida out of all the schools in

096the state of Florida I'd rather be proud of that than a win and these kids have shown good sportsmanship they're good at school and by the way we got our digital sign out front at Lake Region from the money from that award the successful programs and teachers are not being encouraged to continue to flourish are instead being negatively impacted by poor decisions of this Administration thank you ma'am okay next up is Taylor Hamilton and on Deck is EA Ford good evening I'm Taylor Hamilton I'm a teacher at McLaughlin Academy of Excellence I'm also the committee chair for art of Public Service day and I've brought two students with me today who are going to tell you more about that event hello my name is Sean Rafael Fernandez and I'm Ashley Castillo we are both in

097Anchor Diamond McLaughlin at McLaughlin Academy of Excellence we encourage our students to learn more about Public Service as well as understanding the impact of volunteerism has on our community so we took the format of the Great American teaching which is hosted Nationwide in the fall to give students the opportunity to learn about different careers and created an event in the spring semester called Art of Public Service day are the public service day creates a forum for community members to share with students the vast possibilities for them to serve in their community last year we had over 30 community members come to McLaughlin to talk about their Civics involvements academics and or Community engagements from this experience my fellow students and I learned about Community programs like take stocks and children a non-profit organization that hopes

098low-income youth escape the cycle of poverty through education in the future we hope to see art of Public Service day as a Statewide initiative used to promote the importance of civil engagement and Community involvement with the guidance of our principal Dr Hudson and the leadership of Miss Hamilton the art of Public Service Day committee has created a marketing package for the event to share with the district in hopes that our students in our district can share in the art of Public Service on Friday March 10th from 7 15 a.m through 11 A.M McLaughlin Academy of Excellence will be hosting the second annual art of Public Service Day this year we are honored to have superintendent Hyde come thank our guests for contributing to this event and we would like to invite all you guys to

099come to our school and be a part of this momentous occasion for those of you who haven't been to McLaughlin events before know that we always make sure to feed you well we always have breakfast and lunch sponsored for all art of Public Service day participants so we currently have about 30 people signed up and we need 35 to make it work so if there's anybody here anybody watching at home that's available on Friday March 10th again 7 15 to 11 A.M and would love to come speak to our students about how they can serve their Community please contact me you can call the school call McLaughlin and ask for me Taylor Hamilton or you can email me as well Astron is coming around to give our school board members a token of our appreciation

100we have one last thing before we go although she is not present currently we know Dr Hudson will want you to know what she tells us every single day I love you and there's absolutely positively nothing you can do about it thank you thank you so much thank you all thank you all right EA Ford is next and then on Deck is Octavio Hernandez yeah how you doing uh my name is Eric I don't represent any group just representing a concerned parent last night posted on your Facebook site I think I seen something about you guys are going to recruit teachers in Puerto Rico on March 24th 25th I think over that weekend so I'm kind of concerned about um recruiting um teachers from Puerto Rico it seems like well first of all I think

101we should be focusing on the the citizens we have here right in the states uh we have kids coming out of colleges that we could be recruiting heavily on we have maybe some retired teachers who are doing next work that may want to come out and work but uh and the reason why I'm really concerned is because over the pandemic my child had a teacher um that was from out of the country who was a citizen no doubt but when it came to teaching my child the basic fundamentals of cynic structure proper English this teacher couldn't perform those tasks I don't know how many you know parents deal with their with their students and going over their work that was a big concern with me my child go to one of the better schools I

102guess in Winter Haven more one of the better schools but being in fifth grade this year me personally I see a little regression the last couple of years he hasn't finished with the teachers he started with in the beginning of the year either they quit leave or whatever I know we say we're all about supporting the teachers but what can we do to make that better um I mean I saw on the site you say starting teachers start at 47.5 um you know the record recruit uh maybe some college students some other education Educators from other states at 47.5 starting point may not be good enough the average home in Polk County right now what is about 275 but in the end my concern is really going out and not focusing on the on the

103people here from the colleges the local universities here that we have in Florida and the other other states and try and pull in recruitment from those are we doing a big push on those you know is it you know like you're doing a big push in Puerto Rico a big party vacation time are we doing a big push in other states to get some Educators down here are we doing a big push at the colleges when they have job fairs you know just something to think about I know this is not a question to answer session but I'll be sending out some emails to try and get some responses thank you tavio Hernandez and on Deck is Elias Aponte Nueva good evening School Board my name is Octavio Hernandez I am a teacher at Davenport

104high school I'm also a father there at Davenport high school and the reason I came out here tonight is to speak about the traffic safety issue Miss Cunningham I do understand that the students have some sort of responsibility for their safety however if we can't trust them with the books but we can trust them with their lives that's a very dangerous intersection I have since we came here we started this organization so I can show my students how to take action properly not go out there not do a protest actually get through the red tape and get things done and you know I'll show you miss Miller I showed you how dark it was and you guys were able to do something but it's not enough it really isn't enough I would gladly invite you

105to come in the morning one day and deal with that traffic right now we have a volunteer that's helping students cross but it's a very very dangerous intersection and I hope that you're able to fix it I understand there's a lot of red tape I went to Polk County uh board for sidewalks and street lights and they told me the same thing they said we're waiting on you and they said they were waiting on them I do understand but we're talking about the safety of students and teachers this is not the first student that was hit there were two students that were hit this year and it was one last year and I do understand that we don't want any bad publicity and we also understand that like I said some of the safety does

106rely on us as people as individuals but we're talking about kids waking up at six in the morning walking to school with cars literally driving 40 miles an hour because we just fixed that light that light just got fixed at this the speed limit for 20s the school zone that wasn't on for an entire year So when you say for these students to be careful if the another driver from another County doesn't know that's a school zone they're not going to slow down so I'm here to ask you to please try to do I know Mr superintendent you send that email and you told us you're getting things done but I urge you guys to come and see it and I'm sure this is not the only school we have grown so rapidly and so

107fast in this area the public transportation has been a huge issue everywhere you go in Polk County now there's traffic and I don't understand that it is part of our responsibility as you know living here in the community but I urge you to do more and do it quickly because it's really not enough what we have out there it's very very dark it's very very dangerous so I please urge you do more thank you thank you Mr Hernandez and we have Elias Aponte with Nueva and then on Deck is going to be Cassie Gibson whenever you're ready good evening school board members we are here today to present to you the first annual teacher prom which is a fundraiser organized by nuestras versus americanas and GSA to support teachers with cancer our teachers are the

108backbone of our community not only are they Educators but they're but they also give guidance to those who need it this uh this event is an opportunity for teachers who need it to for us to show gratitude to teachers who have been working tirelessly to support our community so we invite you to come join us and celebrate this joyous occasion of thankfulness thank you all right Cassie Gibson do not next is going to be Bernard Wells is this something separate from the reorganization chart okay Bernard Wells and then on Deck is Terry Coney readings to each of you again my name is Bernard Wells and I've been before you on several occasions to speak to this board concerning students not receiving their ese services my question is where's that board member that Champions themselves as

109the voice of students with disabilities in December yes ma'am thank you in December I spoke to you about the mass number of knowledgeable ese staff who have been run out intimidated out harassed out bullied out and just plain put out of the district most of these positions have not been replaced and has caused the services that the ESC students are supposed to have not being received excuse me we can look at speech and language as an example schools without SLP therapists or Pathologists to name a few we have Doris sandals Gene Odell Karen Siegel which are Center Schools that serve most our most vulnerable and high needs student population dndez Bethune Inwood Lake Alfred Laura Sand Hill Elementary and McLaughlin Middle effective today there's only one position advertised why the school board is receiving funds

110from not one but two sources to ensure that students are receiving these services at DEA fefp to the board and Mr Hyde where's that money how is the money being utilized for those Services the money has already been received by the district but the services are not being provided is this an intentional act to get funds from the federal and state government to be utilized for purposes other than students with disability such as perhaps paying for top level staff that the superintendent has brought in we're all aware of the numbers game that has been played here my question rhetorically would be is misappropriation the same as embezzlement I mean I don't know I'm just asking Mr Hyde as you would say the students are waiting when the service is not being provided to the schools

111of our speech and language baby the parents are given a blank check for compilatory services namely to outside providers who are not aware that this plan even exists and seemingly no one is aware of a plan that exists again in December I asked you about a comprehensive compensatory plan and to date there still is not one and if it is who knows about it not school not parents Mr Hyde again the students awaited inquiring minds would also like to know what's going on with Pre-K where's the academic the chief academic officer with the responsibility for our Pre-K babies not being or being staffed at our appropriate time and what about the staff is being put on hold Mr Wells next will be Terry Coney and on Deck is Roxanne Watkins good evening everyone Madam chair

112the superintendent board members first I'd like to uh acknowledge the Lake Gibson High School girls basketball team who also made it to the final four they went on the road to win the district championship and went on the road to win a Regional Championship and of all the volunteering I do that's probably the most rewarding one I do working as their bookkeeper and statistician so shout out to Lake Gibson girls go Braves next uh I really like to acknowledge continue to acknowledge the students in the Polk County School System I had the opportunity last Friday to go to Boone Middle School I was invited by Miss Perros in the home economic class they were doing the exercise and uh job interviews and I was asked to be one of the uh uh interviewers and I

113was I was totally impressed by the kids uh sixth seventh and eighth graders and they had to do a resume and uh they had a list of future jobs and one young man he wanted to be a uh atmospherical scientists as eighth grader I said how did you come up with that he said I've always wondered what goes on up there and uh I said well that's pretty impressive and I asked him had heard of the Aerospace Academy at Kathleen and he hadn't so I recommend that his parents take a look at that but I really got a chance to meet some very impressive kids so to move on with this being the final day of uh Black History Month the African American History Month just want to bring up a few uh items this

114year uh April will be the 60th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King's letter from a Birmingham Jail August 28th will be the 60th anniversary of his uh Poor People's smart speech better known as I have a dream speech and April will also be the 125th anniversary of the 10th calorie Buffalo soldiers coming to to Lakeland staging area going to the Spanish American for the Spanish-American War there are also other units uh there out of Massachusetts Ohio and Kansas uh very few people knew about that I just found out about it when I came back to Lakeland in 2014 and so there was a there was a monument put up in uh on the Veterans Day and kids from Ridge Community College actually got a chance to put something on that Monument so please go out

115and take a look at that and one final thing if I can get it out real quick a lot doesn't become true Rome doesn't become right and evil doesn't become just because even if it's accepted by the majority Booker T Washington thank you thank you Mr Cooney and we have Roxanne Watkins Roxanne Watkins right and then Pam loose foreign good evening I had the opportunity last Tuesday to attend the County Commission meeting in Bartow and one of the items on the agenda was concurrency in particular School concurrency I was very surprised to see that there was a staff member from Polk County Public Schools presenting information about school concurrency to the board of County Commissioners the superintendent also took part in the discussion it caught me off guard because at least two of you have

116asked for a presentation to be made to the board I remember the superintendent responding to the last request with a comment something to the effect of not having anyone on staff that could make such a presentation he also said that he was looking for someone from another District who was an expert who could come and make that presentation to you yet here we were before the County Commissioners with such a presentation by the school district before it was given to you I would think that you would be curious as to why you were not the first to receive that information sorry lost my place in the comments at the end of the workshop the Commissioners and staff agreed that the required site selection committee meetings had not been held for several years since schools and

117school sites had been purchased by the school district over those years the director of Land Development stated that he would ensure that a site selection committee would be held for the Poinciana High School site we've also been told that it is not certain whether it is feasible to provide water and sewer to the location of the two identified potential sites and that that came from the county I just have to wonder where we would be if the site selection committee were convened as required when the search for this site began a couple of years ago all these matters would have been worked out between the agencies and the school could very likely be under construction what has been accomplished by avoiding cooperation with our community agencies you've heard that the school district is in compliance

118with the interlocal agreement the County Commission agrees that it has not been complied within the area where they are concerned this is only part of what needs to be brought back into compliance I've provided you with some information on another area in the agreement I only have three minutes I won't have time to go over it with you now but this is in the area of how capacity determination should be provided to the municipalities and the Developers I've also provided examples of how it is being provided it's no wonder that the Northeast schools are bursting at the seams the school district is telling developers and the municipalities that there is capacity in the schools even when there is not I just want to quickly before we adjourn have superintendent Hyde respond to a couple things

119because we he did present with um our facilities team and there were a couple misrepresentations that I want to make sure that the board is understands what happened at that presentation it is correct Madam chair members of the board the presentation that was provided to that entity in Bartow was the presentation that you've received previously this board including our chair has directed me to do a more finite presentation and as we shared there used to be an individual at the Department of Education who could be tapped for such trainings and such information but no longer that position no longer exists and the recommendation of the Florida Department of Education was to reach out to other knowledgeable and experienced individuals in surrounding districts that have have dealt with significant growth and have them come and provide

120you with that presentation we continue to strive to develop that however no information was presented at the Bartow meeting this school board has not received previously in addition I do not have any recollection of any single or group of city councilmen or Commissioners making a statement that we failed in any regard to hold a site selection Committee in fact Mr bode's exact words were we will make sure we do it in the future but there are were examples where this was not required by by law and we clearly delineated those donated property does not require a site selection committee previously adopted properties as can as agreed to and supported by Mr body and others when we have a land bank of sites that we can use to address concurrency and growth those were previously they've

121already had their site selection committee done when we procured those properties and that's what was discussed and so quite frankly there is no issue here at concurrency yes we are getting to a point where we need to address continued growth and we are working to resolve that as quickly as we can and we have a plan in place for a new High School that high school if we went with the donated property is not required to have a site selection committee done however we're in agreement with Mr Bode and the county that moving forward we'll be happy to have that for any new land that we procure or is donated to the school district but I don't want it misrepresented here that that group did not at any point say that site selection site selection

122was a was failure or that we failed to adhere to that that is not what was said in fact the chair and other Representatives on that board asked Mr Bode no fewer than four times did he believe at any time we have violated the interlocal agreement every single time he responded with no there is no advantage to the school district to lie about concurrency and put ourselves at a disadvantage where we have overcrowding in our schools so I appreciate the opportunity to respond Madam chair and again and to clarify those two issues because they're they're factually inaccurate thank you superintendent Hyde seeing no further business to come before the board this meeting is adjourned foreign