School Board Meeting | May 14, 2019

001I pledge allegiance the nine states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please be seated Thank You Courtney would you come back up to the podium please okay we have some questions for you so you a TENS Boot Hill Elementary what's your favorite subject there my favorite subject is science science very nice and just all sciences or do you have anyone that you like in particular I'll say it's all science very good and what do you want to do when you grow up I want to be a vet a veterinarian a veterinarian very good do you have any pets at home yes of course you do what do you have I have a gecko and a dog very good well thank

002you so much for leading us this afternoon do you have someone here from your school with you okay would you like to know do some place president I have with me today is mr. means and you have any family members here yes my mom okay would you stand please well Courtney again thank you so much in a wonderful job we appreciate you coming out and leading us in our pledges evening thank you the school board meeting in May 14th 2019 for Polk County is called to order madam superintendent do we have any revisions to the agenda item c11 minutes of the April 9 2009 teen work session remove item item C 12 minutes of the April 23rd to 19 work session add backup item C 16 bit recommendations revise backup item our 62 recommendation of

003non instructional personnel actions revised backup item our 66 request to schedule a public hearing for June 18 2009 teen this concludes our revisions for this evening thank you madam superintendent so this time I would entertain a motion to accept the May 14 2009 teen school board meeting agenda as revised so moved second any discussion mr. Wilson I'm not really sure exactly where this would need to to be considered but I would like to add the motion to renew the bridge prep academies the recommendation by the superintendent for the bridge prep Academy's charter school application thank you mr. fields I think we would need to approve the agenda first and then you most welcome to make that motion immediately after that okay thank you so we have a motion on the floor to accept the school

004board meeting agenda as revised we have a second is there any further discussion all in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion carries miss fields I would like to make a motion to renew the superintendent's recommendation for the bridge prep Academy's charter school application we have a motion do we have a second second motion a second any further discussion mr. Townsend there's been a lot of public discussion about the site this was not on the agenda for tonight I think it's only fair that the public get a chance to address this REE what does it riri nude vote renewed vote I would I would ask that we postpone this this vote and discussion until til the next regular these guys I told meeting I think a lot of us have gotten correspondence I think

005our it would be pretty disrespectful to the public to have this vote tonight with it not being on the agenda no one having a chance to come Thank You mr. Townsend so mr. Townsend's motion is to table the the motion for the renewal vote mr. bridges mr. chair a motion to lay on the table requires a second and is not debatable okay so we have a motion do we have a second so do we have a second so we do have a second there is no discussion on this matter so at this time we'll we'll vote on this matter we'll do a roll call vote all in favor of mr. Townsend's motion please say aye or yes as we go through the roll call all opposed please say no mr. Thompson aye hi miss Cunningham

006nay mr. Wilson goes nay miss Reynolds nay miss fields miss Miller motion fails so the motion on the floor then is renewal of the superintendent's recommendation to approve the bridge prep Academy contract and we'll vote we'll have discussion on that matter at this time mr. todson are we voting to add it to the agenda or are we voting on the matter itself so it's a live motion right it is a live motion yeah I don't think you guys may have read it read about this bridge bridge prep is a essentially for-profit charter arch arch arch charter school that has chosen to make its public face a convicted criminal he's been been been la been la lobbying us his name is Ralph Arzo he was convicted of witness tampering Rhonda Rhonda Sana's his campaign cuz their

007him too racist to be part of his campaign he was disavowed by by the de Santos campaign but the Brits Brett folks have chosen him to be their public face they have you know we had a three to three vote last last last last meeting miss fields wasn't able to attend so the so the so the school did not pass the our Charter Review Committee who we hire a consultant to work with a committee to give us a recommendation as as to whether a school should pass voted 11 to one to recommend against approval I think we've all received overwhelming response from from folks asking us not to approve this the school you know I originally it's it's sort of a bye-bye bilingual school and I was sort of open to the idea at first

008but became pretty clear as they presented to us that this is really just a real estate venture to to to them they really want to go to South late like Lakeland but we don't have any need for them at all all there but since they've lost the vote their behavior I would not inflict them on the people at Polk County I have absolutely no reason to believe they will treat their parents or their kids with respect they are likely to go appeal this decision to Tallahassee and probably win because Tallahassee charter review committee system is corrupt and rigged and you know I think this is really a taro a terrible terrible vote if we if we do this it's contrary to what the public wants it's you know going to put us in in business

009with some very unsavory people I'm proud of that vote I will continue to be probably proud of them I'm going to vote against it tonight I think it's a I think it's really cowardly to not postpone this a month and and let the pub the public whose has expressed their their views pretty pretty clearly about that about about this come and speak about it it's trying to sneak sneak this and tonight when nobody's looking is just not not not how we ought to do do do business those those folks lost lost lost a vote and they behaved abominably sense sense since then and I will be voting now Thank You mr. Townsend MS Miller first of all I want to start this out with Lisa Miller decides things on her own and I want to

010tell you my experience with bridge prep Academy at the beginning when they submitted application they wanted us to move it into the second phase in promised of changing information on the application and promise of changing a location on the application I'm not going to talk about mr. arthas character you could feel free to google him he is our legislative liaison it is his job to convince counties to put these charter corporate charters into their counties I can tell you that corporate charters are nothing like local charters this is not your Mikheil this is not your berkeley this is not your Lake Wells District corporate charters are ran very differently this board would have no one from Polk County on it not one resident from Polk County on its governing board that is an issue that

011I have because my job is to look out for the citizens of Polk County and after my vote no the threatening letter that I received along with one other board member describing things that were untrue and a very threatening manner because of my vote just cost mr. Arzo and his company another vote because I would not change my mind and put Polk County students and staff and jeopardy of people that operate like this so I will not be changing my vote to not accept the application from bridge prep there's a process I very much respect the superintendent and I also respect the committee that was made up of individuals outside of us too determine applications and to review them an 11-2 to voted no so I will go with that committee's decision and by the

012behavior of this school that's operated by sending threatening letters to board members trying to change their vote and accusing them things that are absolutely not true I do support charter I support local charter that has local people from Polk County on the governing board these schools have a governing board where they share board members across South Florida they all meet on the same day so they all can make decisions on the same day about schools located in multiple locations as someone who's worked in a school and also been on governing boards I can tell you that's very difficult there's no way the needs of the individual schools are being met and with emails that I'm receiving in letters I'm receiving from families in Boca Raton in South Florida they absolutely agree with this that it

013is very they have no way of dispute resolution has not made clear to them it's very difficult to run a charter from South Florida for Polk County and I know the residents of Polk County and the constituents that voted for me would not be agreement to it so I will not be changing my vote and the vote is no for bridge prep Thank You miss Miller this feels I have a statement that I want to read the mission of the school district is students first no matter what we what may be said negative about the applicant of the charter schools in general the district's mission is to provide for student academic achievement the district is facing an overcrowding challenge in East Polk specifically the Haines City Davenport area if there is an opportunity to address

014the need of the district that will favorably impact student achievement the district should explore it further and is my understanding the superintendent's recommendation was to do just that and to look at some of the deficiencies deficiencies that have been mentioned and to go and to see if those deficiencies can be addressed so that ultimately we can make sure that we provide the necessary seats for the students in East Polk County when they originally came to us the location was identified as Lakeland and after discussion they agreed to at East Polk because of the overcrowding it's there and it's my understanding that if they win they'll appeal that they would probably end up relocating excuse me locating their school to Lakeland which is not where we need help we need help in East Polk County and

015so that is why I brought the motion back I was not able to attend at the last board meeting I apologize for that but I feel like we can't take care of East Polk County alone we need help and they're willing to help I've looked at their grades and their grades for the most part are comparable to what we are doing in our school district so I will be quite naturally supporting this motion thank you miss fields Fortney well Sarah Fortney got the other letter and I will tell you that the tone of that I did not know who mr. Arzo was and I'm again not going to speak to his character but I did google him and after the fact I also want to make public knowledge that I support superintendent Byrd I may

016not agree with this but I want everybody to know that not ever at of my mouth as it came that I want her to be dismissed or replaced and I would respectfully ask who's ever spreading that nonsense about Sarah Courtney I kind of feel like that about I do the charter school please cease and desist just because I am NOT for a charter school that does anybody know how many kids are gonna serve in the Northeast just off the top of their head so I rest my case on that but the bottom line is it you know we need to be supporting our public schools with people that we trust our teachers that we trust these outside entities truly make me nervous and I am gonna say for public record again I am sure my

017house was cased after the last board meeting and I asked my friends from Bartow Police to follow me this evening thank you thank you Miss Fortney miss Cunningham Thank You mr. chairman a couple of things as the board member for northeast Polk I just want to say that when they originally came to us a while back they were going to locate this new school in the South Lakeland area which to me absolutely made no sense because the growth and the infrastructure that we need for schools is happening in Northeast Polk so I was against this charter from the beginning because of its location number one number two they did not indicate that they were going to put anyone on their board from Polk County and I simply could not vote for a charter school that

018doesn't have a board member from Polk County sitting on it to take care of our kids they came back to us after everything was said and done in work sessions and changed their tune they basically said okay if you think we need a school in Northeast Polk let us look at that and see if we can find property and do just that secondly they said we understand how important it is to have a board member from our area from Polk County and they assured us that they were going to put one on their board thirdly this vote is not a vote for the Charter School this vote is to allow the charter school and the district superintendent's office to work together to see if in fact we can negotiate the term of this contract favorably

019because there were issues there's no reason that it was denied by the Charter Review Committee without reason of course there was reason to do so but it was explained to us through our superintendent that she felt there might be a chance to be able to negotiate this at the contract stage so this vote is not okay you're in you're done here we are we have a new charter school in Northeast Polk the vote today is to simply say we would like to go to the next step with you which is to evaluate the contract to see if you in fact abide by the things that we have asked you to do namely location namely a board member curriculum other items that are in the contractual phase then after that it would come to the board

020for a final vote on the Charter School so I feel based on what Miss field said and how I personally feel is that I owe it to our students to be able to do that if this is simply another piece of the of the process if you will is to give them a chance and our folks to go to contract to see if we can work this out so due to that I will be supporting this vote this evening Thank You mr. chairman hey miss Cunningham miss Reynolds I just wanted to echo a couple of things the miss fields and miss Cunningham said the as miss Cunningham said is not to bring them to Polk County it is to go to the contracting process the superintendent is confident there's a few things in the contract

021that were glaring issues that she will thinks that we can resolve if it does not go to the contracting process with us it will be appealed to Tallahassee and I don't know if anyone can tell me when we won the last charter school appeal in Tallahassee but I don't believe it's been at least in the last decade maybe in my lifetime so if that's what we're looking at it very likely we'll be located in South Lakeland which is not where we need any other schools it would not have to have a Polk County board member it would not have to have all of the things that we've discussed that are glaring issues in the contract so my vote will be to let it go to the contracting process to see if we can get all

022of those kinks worked out if not it will be coming back to us for a second vote and we will be able to not approve it at that point Thank You mr. chair then you miss Reynolds Miller a point to say I understand the process we also have protocol and procedure this is the first time I've seen this even as a community member where they've they've come back like this with this aggressive manner we do have policies that need to be followed and putting something in an application and then you know urging us to move to the next phase and promise of them doing better I might have bought into that before I got this threatening letter sent to me with full of falsehoods including my character so I'm a little I'm a little unsure

023of moving them into a second phase I think we have a process we have a protocol sometimes these applications are turned down and they'll go back and fix them and bring them back for the second round and then we move them to the next phase and we make it happen and I was encouraging bridge prep to do that instead of moving to the next phase they could have obviously withdrawn this application and made the changes they have no other school that has local representations on their board so that promise is a little pie-in-the-sky for me to think they would reach that far so yes I do understand the process of moving this would move them to the second phase but due to this this letter mainly and how they've operated I don't feel it's in

024the best interest I want quality schools in Northeast Polk I want quality education for these students and once they get a charter it is very hard to reel it back in so we need to be very particular of who we approved and we need to make sure they're meeting all the requirements to make sure our kids are safe and the teachers and staff that are operating in those facilities are doing so in in the best interest of children thank you miss Miller mr. Townsend just few two additional thoughts absolutely nothing nothing that's been discussed here tonight has changed by having this vote on June 18th or whatever our next next meeting is even you can have everybody have the exact same position and face the public and own this vote without ducking it I think

025the character matters a lot so I will talk about Ralph are ours is carrot Aaron character he was convicted of witness tampering in 2006 I believe the year was this have been written written written written about extensively he got drunk colic called up a senior official called him the M word it's a pretty awful tape he got thrown out of the legislature and still bridge bridge prep and the Florida Charter School Association has made him their public face they want him speaking for them do you think they're gonna give to darns about your kids or your or your parents or what they think I mean look at what they're willing to do to elected officials you think you think the education of the kids in the Northeast is going to matter him everything you've heard

026here is about threat if we don't do do this they're gonna come back and just go to South Lakeland let them come to South way like Lakeland you know at some point you make a moral decision based on whether you're gonna be complicit with something with something or not there's no way in hell I'm gonna be complicit with this and it's it's it's it's it it is deeply shameful that at the very least we're not given the full public who has spoken out quite a bit about this the chance to address this this this this vote and there's no excuse for it Thank You mr. Townsend MS Miller did you have some additional comments thank you at the work session this afternoon I mentioned that mr. Arthur had sent a letter to a couple of

027our board members and I mentioned that that letter was ill-advised ill-conceived was a terribly unfortunate and incredibly incredibly inappropriate you know one of the things he called into question was whether or not those board members were fulfilling their constitutional responsibilities to to our community and to the state and as I said then I'll say again I find that to be incredibly objectionable well we may disagree and sometimes we strenuously disagree there's no question in my mind that every single member of this board has in the heart of hearts the best interest of our community the best interest of our students and to suggest that somebody is doesn't have the best interest of our community other constituents and our students of mine is just it crosses a line it's inappropriate and I publicly I'm publicly asking

028mr. Arzo to issue an apology to those board members having said that I think initially and again I said this in the in the work sessions afternoon generally funding for schools when funding came to school districts we acquired property we acquired facilities and those facilities belong to the taxpayer they belong to the school board of course administered them but they belong to the taxpayers when when we were finished using those facilities we sold them and acquired new facilities or we gave them to other public entities this is a little different now what we're seeing as a result of state legislature a state legislature or state law is we're seeing those facilities now being acquired by private entities and I think a lot of people find that incredibly objectionable and understandably so but it is nevertheless

029state law and so what Bridgeport is asking to do here is that it's not inconsistent with what this state has in mind for charter schools there are two separate entities there's the board and then there's the school the the organization is going to be running the school I don't find any evidence that the organization actually running Bridgeport is a bad organization I think the board and mr. town says brought up some issues with the board and some of the representatives but I don't know that that's necessarily representative of the school of the organization they'll be running that school more importantly I am 100% certain that upon appeal this will be approved this this contract will be approved with Bridgeport and once that happens we our school district will have absolutely no control over what they

030do with it they will have full control the contract as it stands we still have the ability we have some control we have some influence as to what can be done with that contract and and so from my perspective I I I'm it's going to happen I'm 100 percent sure it's going to happen and I would prefer that we have some control over it and so that's why I will be voting for it's just that simple this matter has become to come before the public and we have invited public comment it's all this is not an new a new motion this is a renewal motion I do agree that if we could provide the schools and the teachers in the northeast part of the county what we desperately need help that we would do that

031we should do that we simply don't have those resources so even when we are finished building our new schools and and filling those schools with staff we will still be busting at the seams we won't be anywhere near meeting the needs of that community so to the extent that we can get a school out there and help those students I think is it behooves us to do that so those are the reasons I'll be voting for this those are things I talked about earlier in the meeting is there any further discussion right so the motion on the floor is approval the superintendent's recommendation to move the Bridgeport contract forward understanding that there will be some negotiation and understanding that ultimately our staff will work with them to ensure that they fulfill their promises to us

032all in favor please say aye aye all opposed no so we have three nays and four eyes did we do we need a roll call vote or do we have that we good with that okay thank you motion carries at this time we have special recognitions been a superintendent okay I would like to ask school board members Sarah for need to please step to the podium for a special recognition board member Billy Townsend will read the poke prod Proclamation Kristine lay Lee and Kelly McCoy of Polk Pride Florida will accept the proclamation are you ready whereas polk county florida is part of a global community in which which people of diverse cultures races creeds hinders and set actual identities must work together toward peace and understanding and whereas the LGBTQ students within polk county contribute

033to this vibrant innovative culturally inclusive world-class community and to its diversity and whereas various advancements have been made with respect to equal rights and protections for all peoples including the LGBTQ community throughout the state of Florida and United States and whereas members of the LGBTQ community still face ongoing discrimination based on their innate status resulting in a measurable human tragedy loss of life community isolation and abuse and whereas people of Polk County and the Lakeland Youth Alliance envision a world where diversity is celebrated and all people are respected valued and affirmed inclusive of their sexual orientation gender identity and gender expression therefore in concert with polt Pride Week the Polk County School Board reaffirms its commitment support and inclusion of all students and staff including those who identify as LGBTQ dated this 14th day of

034May 2019 by the school board of Polk County hi my name is Christine Lally I am the president of Lakeland Youth Alliance a peer based support group for LGBTQ teens in Polk County I just want to thank you guys for affirming her support there's a lot of youth out there who feel sheltered and alone and this might help them get through today and tomorrow thank you [Applause] thank you Nick's out like supervisor of elections laureate was to come for for high school voter registration recognition thank you very much a pleasure to be here the Supervisor of Elections Office visited 21 high schools during March and April to offer students the opportunity to register to vote nine hundred and ninety four students took us up on this offer today we're here to offer recognition to the

035schools that registered the most new voters Winter Haven High School is the winner this year for the most number of registrants with 105 government teachers charlotta Saab and principal gina williams are here to accept what i think is a really cool looking award [Applause] we also today I think this is just coincidence but there are a number of members of the Polk County League of Women Voters here in the audience today and I did want to mention to the board that every single school visit we made we were supported by a two or three or more members of the League of Women Voters helping out so I personally want to thank you for that very much thank you another note and it just it's not every vote counts thing Winter Haven High School had 105

036students registered Haynes City High School 104 students registered that's right every vote counts and that's going to put the the pressure on I think for next year so Bartow High School is a winter winner for the highest percentage of eligible students 13.5 percent of the eligible students they are registered and government teachers Shelly Devore and principal Emilien Clemens are here to accept the award and of course thank you to the school board and not only the school board but the government teachers as well as the principal's who really are the ones that made this possible for their help with this cooperative effort to help us remind your students to make their voice heard so thank you very much [Applause] Thank You Lori you some pictures dr. Hartman yes thank you and congratulations I would like

037to ask Doug Harlow teacher resource specialist to come for for the Lake Region high construction Academy recognition good evening business and community partners today I had the privilege to introduce and thank Allison and the Polk County Builders Association for their years of support and partnership for our schools about 13 years ago miss hunt and the Polk County Builders Association approached the workforce department about the need for skilled trades tradesmen for the future and construction industry today we have currently five academies construction academies with Bartow being our flagship construction Academy Lake Region being one of our new ones miss hunt and the Polk County Builders Association over the years have been loyal and steadfast and their commitment to the Polk County Public Schools despite downturns in the economy within the construction industry the Polk County Builders

038Association along with Miss hunt have provided over students over the years more than a hundred thousand dollars in scholarships and we want to thank her for her commitment to our students in our schools and miss hunt will come up and present Lake region's thank you thank you mr. Harwell with six million jobs available in this country right now the majority of them do not require a four-year degree and the majority of those are in the construction field we appreciate your willingness to have the conversation to train students for the workforce trades I know it's a difficult conversation and I know what we're going to do here would not happen without support from the top there are five teachers in five different schools the construction academies open up for student signups one year ago this month

039Jimmy Giles in Bartow High School excuse me Thomas Howe in Fort Meade middle senior Frank Waller in Lake Region high school Shawn Isaac and ten rock and Jay snore enriched community senior high school we had two ribbon cuttings one at Bartow High School to open the building and the other at Lake Region high school to kick off the construction academies while there the contractors present were impressed this is the first semester of the first year of construction academies and the students were hands-on with power tools not only that they were building birdhouses with mitered corners and if you've done any woodworking you know a perfect mitered corner is hard to come by and these students were nailing it so the contractors were not the only ones admiring the birdhouses superintendent Byrd too complimented the work

040the cleanliness of the class the strict discipline with the power tools and so we have today mr. Waller from Lake Region high school instructor extraordinaire and two students Nick Mays and Jacob Ober Miller to present the superintendent with a birdhouse [Applause] and it says the bird house yeah really [Applause] they did let me use the tools when I went so I was making sure this was not the one that I know cuz it might fall off next up I would like to invite jeanette crowley senior coordinator of strategic partnerships to come forward for the united way recognition thank you United Way of Central Florida fights for the health education and financial stability of every individual in Polk County they invest in teacher training parent education and early literacy services that improve vocabulary literacy skills and

041school readiness scores as well as tutoring homework assistance and mentoring service for at-risk students K through 12 United we all win together today I have the honor of sharing our 2018 district-wide campaign results with you as well as celebrate our top schools and Department who contribute to the highest fundraising results towards the campaign polk county public schools 2018 campaign raised over $100,000 for the United Way of Central Florida campaign this includes pledges one-time donations and fundraising dollars ranking us number seven out of the top 50 companies and over five hundred companies that run campaigns throughout Central Florida at this time I'd like to invite Cristina Chrysler Jackson president and CEO of United Way of Central Florida to accept the district-wide campaign fundraising check of forty one thousand six hundred and thirty three dollars and 59

042cents and help me recognize our schools and departments Thank You Jeanette first of all I wanted to thank the school board for your support as volunteers advocates and donors for our community Thank You superintendent Byrd for your leadership Thank You Marissa Greene as one of our United Way of Central Florida board members Thank You Jeanette Crowley for being our employee coordinator and a special thank you to school board member Kay fields for the leadership you provide at Girls Inc we are grateful for that partnership but today is about the many teachers staff and faculty that support our community thank you for your devotion to give to the communities in which we work and live your efforts to give through United Way has pulled County Public Schools ranked as number seven throughout our tri-county region congratulations

043not only do you support our hundred over 100 funded programs but you also we are also proud partners of the initiatives that you provide throughout the school board reading pals are now in 14 schools and the Community Partnership school is now open at Crystal Lake Elementary and we invite all of you to the ribbon-cutting this Thursday for the community health center thank you for improving lives and strengthening community to the community at this time I would like to ask our Board Chair Elect Greta dupuis of public supermarkets to join us for the recognition all right so as I call your school and Department please come forward to receive your certificate and gifts from the United Way of Central Florida just like we say every vote counts every dollar seriously counts and we have some really

044competitive schools out there so in our elementary school category we have spessard L Holland elementary who raised a total of seven thousand two hundred and thirty one dollars and seventy seven cents and I like you to know that this is seven hundred dollars more than they raised last year and the highest campaign amount by any school or department full credit superintendent board members goes to a team of people at my school mr. Ross jetski who started a competitive campaign a few years back and now three aspiring leaders Casey Willis who could not be with us tonight mr. Lewis Rios and mr. Craig Hill Gomberg who take full credit for this campaign success this year so all thanks to them [Applause] middle-school category can we please have Kathleen middle come up for 2175 dollars for raised

045in our middle school division I I gotta say we have a great time doing this each year this is our fourth year in a row with this so I got a once again thank my staff our students have a great time students so every year they vote for the administrator who has to kiss a pig so that that's always a fun time luckily it wasn't me this year so I will smile for that but thank you [Applause] our highschool category can we please have late Gibson hi come forward for a total and they raise two thousand eight hundred and ninety nine dollars for their campaign hi I'd like to thank you guys the United Way of Central Florida and the school board for honoring us tonight I've also also wanted to thank my wonderful administration

046including the best principal in the county mr. Ryan van right here for letting me do all the crazy things that we need to do to raise the money and the wonderful faculty we have at Lake Gibson High School as well as our student body so thanks it's a great cause [Applause] all right in our combination school category we have Fort Meade middle senior who raised a total of two thousand two hundred and thirty dollars for this campaign I think you have to approach education with eyes of grace and I think United I think you are able United Way gives purpose to the giving because I think it keeps our employees in check on what we're doing with our jobs every day so I appreciate it because it's all about the kids and it's all about

047polk county i'm riding solo tonight because my coordinator is running senior awards right now so i will be flying out of here soon after mr. Blankenship is blessed and then I've got regional playoffs tonight - so go miners but thank you very much [Applause] all right in our department category we have support services who raised a total of three thousand two hundred and six dollars can you please come forward thank you um I can't take any credit for this whatsoever this young lady behind me each year the campaign comes around and I go to Kayla Smith or Cael Allen and and say Kayla can you help us out and she always she always comes and it makes a great campaign she makes it fun she makes it worthwhile and and it gets everybody in the

048spirit of giving and so we couldn't do it without her and I just appreciate you very much thank you [Applause] congratulations to each of you and thank you again for all of your hard work you put into the campaign each year you all are greatly appreciated I did want to mention that Jaz Garcia is right right hand from United Way of Central Florida that helps me during the campaign so if we could just give her a round of applause because she works with me every single day during the campaign thank you all for your support mr. chair dis concludes our recognitions for this evening thank you madam superintendent so at this time I would invite anyone who would like to speak to any item on the agenda so if there's an item on the evenings

049agenda that you would like to speak to please come forward and do so at this time yes ma'am that was on the prior agenda it was a renewal vote you're welcome to speak to that item would you butBut I would ask that you wait to the end when we have our general discussions do we have anyone who'd like to speak to any item on this current agenda so we have several minutes to approve this evening we'll start with the item c8 approval of the minutes of the March 19 2009 team work session what's the pleasure of the board move approval we have a motion a second any discussion so the motion on the floor is approval of the March 19 2018 workstation minutes all in favor please say aye aye the opposed motion carries item

050c9 approval of the minutes of the March 19 2009 teen school board meeting what's the pleasure of the board approval a motion a second any discussion the motion on the floor is approval of the minutes of the March 19 2009 teen school board meeting all if every Police say aye aye the opposed motion carries next item is c10 and this is approval of the minutes of them of the April 9th 2019 roundtable meeting what's the pleasure of the board second we have motion a second any discussion so the motion on the floor is approval of the minutes of the April 9 2009 teen roundtable meeting all in favor please say aye aye the opposed motion carries the next item is c12 and this is approval of the minutes of the April 23rd 2019 work session

051what's the pleasure of the board do for approval second a motion a second any discussion so motion on the floor is approval of the minutes of the April 23rd 2019 work session all in favor please say aye any opposed motion carries the next item is c-13 and this is approval of the minutes of the April 23rd 2019 school board meeting what's the pleasure of the board approval motion a second any discussion so the motion on the floor is approval of the minutes of the April 23 2009 teen school board meeting all in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion carries the next item is C 14 and this is approval of the consent agenda what's the pleasure of the board mr. Chairman I make a motion to approve the consent agenda for May 14

0522009 teen second you have a motion and a second any discussion so the motion on the floor is approval of the consent agenda for today's meeting all in favor please say aye any opposed motion carries in madam superintendent we have some new administrators yes we do I am pleased to recommend the appointment of IV Wright gainer as the assistant principal of Lakeland Highlands middle miss Wright gained our previous serve as the acting assistant principal at Lakeland Highlands middle she attended Warner Southern University earning a bachelor's degree in various nationalities she went on to earn her master's degree in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University congratulations and welcome got to say something it's been a long time coming and I first like to thank God for designing me to be an educator because that is who

053I was designed to be in my mother's womb I like to thank my parents Samuel and Bernadette right for always pushing me and motivating me to be the best me that I can be my husband Evander's gainer on those late nights and early mornings it was not a problem it was always can I give you a hand or what can I do and lastly but not least my mentor mr. Leigh Kendrick who saw things in me that I didn't even see in myself and so I stand before you today humbled and proud to serve in the capacity of assistant principal of the lakeland islands middle school Thank You superintendent Byrd who always gives me motivating and encouraging words thank you congratulations to you next I'm pleased to recommend the appointment of Matthew Blankenship as the

054principal of standby middle mr. Blankenship previously servicing acting principal at Jerry Stambaugh middle he attended the University of South Florida earning a bachelor's degree in British and American literature he went on to earn his master's degree in educational leadership from a University of South Florida congratulations and welcome first I want to say thank you to miss Byrd and the school board members for your confidence in me and leading the school I do want to say a special thank you to my mom she's my biggest supporter always there when I need someone to talk to and someone just to listen I am very much grateful for this past year working under the direction of Miss Collins every time I had a concern or a question I just needed to talk something through she was always there

055I am a reflection of the principles I've worked for Miss Amy Hardy mr. John Hill and mr. earnest Jo without those three I wouldn't know what it meant to truly put students first and be a servant leader I do want to thank my assistant principals Leslie clay Alicia wilder and Holly Melton they kind of deal with my crazy self as I go through the day and all the students and staff at stand ball it's not me it's about them they do it every single day each student every day I look forward to serving those students in like-new capacity and I look forward to serving the community of arendelle thank you thank you and congratulations I am pleased to recommend the appointment of Francis echeverria assistant principal of Lake Marion Cree Miss Echevarria previously served as

056the acting assistant principal at Lake Marion Creek she attended the University of out of Albany earning a bachelor's degree in psychology she went on to earn a master's degree in educational psychology in addition she attended Nova Southeastern University earning her educational specialists in leadership and her doctorate in organizational leadership welcome and congratulations good evening when the photographer's say you had to come up here and speak I thought he was kidding but but I'm spoken as an introvert I'd like to thank God I'm for allowing me the opportunity to be a servant leader I'd like to thank my family my mom and dad who could not be here but have been instrumental in my decision to be an educator and more and above all a lifelong learner I like to thank superintendent Byrd and the school

057board for allowing me to live my dream job or my dream every single day when I step on a campus thank you for allowing me to make a difference and to allowing me this opportunity thank you and congratulations next time please to recommend the appointment of Tom Patton as principal of George Jenkins high school mr. Patton pleased to serve as the acting principal at George Jenkins High School Hiten at Warner Southern College earning a bachelor's degree in communications he went on to earn his master's degree in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University congratulations and welcome Thank You superintendent Byrd I do appreciate the honor and privilege of being the principal of George Jenkins I do understand the importance of our school within the district it's hard to believe that 19 years ago an English teacher

058was prodded by his mother to move to Lakeland to George Jenkins and Here I am now so both of my parents are educators they can't be here tonight my dad they're both in Lee County he's at graduations and various events but um I know they they're very proud and happy for me and I'm thankful for them like everybody else there's a lot of people you know that I've been lucky enough to be around and you know they've mentioned a few people and all due respect that I get that I need a lot so I have a whole army here with me I told someone to get here at 4 o'clock they didn't get here so they're in the other room so but I'm just very lucky and a few people I would like to point

059out is I'm definitely my mentor way more than that though my friend you know we're not related by blood but he's definitely family and that's the previous principal buddy Thomas who came here to support me I also have the other legend of George Jenkins besides buddy miss Diahann work she just retired recently lucky her but um she was also a great support for me early in my career so Thank You Diane for being here and then one of our greatest business partners and you know lo and behold became a real good friend of mine over the years mr. Mike curry with Dixie Southern industrial he's helped the district in various things throughout time within the district not just a George Jenkins but the advice and guidance good times and bad he's been there for me

060that's something I'll always be thankful for thank you Mike for being here and of course miss Dawson I know you're here there she is she's such a wonderful advocate such a wonderful resource I'm so thankful that when I have you know it's when your leaders answer the phone that's a good leader and she always answers and for that I'm definitely appreciative I've learned to say good morning before I start into what I need help with but she's trained me well there's a couple others that are that are here Johnson to our piece another business partner he's here and I know that my crew now is starting to to come in this is our new admin team this year Lacey Emily who's been with me for a while and Brad hires who's recently been an AP

061was here a few months back I know I'm taking too long but you know mr. Hill Ave I grew up with you in administration I was not raised born and bred in Polk County but I would like to say that I definitely professionally was born and raised in Polk County through that aspect so thank you very much and sorry for taking so much time thank you and congratulations I'm believed to recommend the appointment of Ricky Wiggs as assistant principal of Department of Juvenile Justice education mr. weeks previously served as acting assistant principal at Department of Juvenile Justice he attended the University of South Florida earning a bachelor's degree in business administration he went on to earn a master's degree in educational leadership from Southeastern University in addition he's earned his master's of Divinity from the

062internet interdenominational theological center congratulations and welcome to superintendent Byrd and to the to the school board like to say thank you for this wonderful opportunity before I can go any further I must say that if it had not been for the Lord who was on my side I don't think I would have made it think my wife oh my son he came over from Tampa from school to all of the principal's who have had the wonderful opportunity to work and to glean from to learn how to be an administrator who have taught me valuable lessons oftentimes we think that our journey is set the way we wanted to but often time God puts a detour in the road to get us to the right place and I am honored to say that I am serving

063in the best job I think that there is in polk county school and that is serving in DJJ I was thinking about this moment and I thought about really it's not cliched but if it had not been for the Lord I would be one of those same students who I'm serving today and to think that I grew up in Polk County came out of Lake Gibson only to have a teacher to tell me that I shouldn't go to a four-year university I believe in those children although they make mistakes although they may do things that are not popular I believe in the education of all of our students so I'm honored and grateful that you all are allowing me the opportunity to work and serve those students who go through the criminal justice system again

064thank you so very much and again if it had not been for the Lord thank you congratulations last but not least I'm pleased to recommend the appointment of Angie Wilcox Austin as the assistant principal of Bartow senior miss Wilcox Austin proves his service to actin assistant principal Bartow senior she attended the University of South Florida earning a bachelor's degree in special education behavior disorders she went on to earn her master's degree in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University congratulations and welcome Thank You superintendent Byrd and thank you to the school board of Polk County for this wonderful wonderful blessing thank God I'm like Ricky Wiggs if it wasn't for God where would I be this is only God making this allowing this to happen to me on this day at this time in my life

065and I thank him and I thank you all again for the opportunity I'll also like to thank my principles at Bartow Summerlin and IB Emily Ann Clements dr. Hartman as well as dr. Downey now I thank them for their encouraging word and just encouraging me and I also like to thank miss Dawson for encouraging me for speaking into me as well as my principals this is a great opportunity to continue to put students first continue to see the need and to meet the need that get to continue to meet the challenges that we face every day in and out of school with students again I thank you for this opportunity and I appreciate it thank you thank you all congratulations ooh idea a group photo please if you often come up for group photo thank

066you congratulations again mr. chairman this completes our new administrators for this evening thank you madam superintendent and congratulations to our new administrators and we thank you for for your service to our school district and this if you were this might be a good time to leave if you would like to do so I think I think that went without saying yeah once the doors closed we'll be ready to rock and roll yep did you get her attention I'll bring you up first I'll make you number one we go okay as soon as we're here I'll make you come up first she's saying he'll put you first he'll put you first yeah because they leave after because they're supporting the they're supporting the administrators that got appointed there we go we get somebody shut that back

067door okay we'd like to get started again please the next item on the agenda is item our 50 could we close the back door please thank you the next item on the agenda is item are fifty and this is approval of the appointment of Cynthia Wimberly to the sales tax Oversight Committee I'll ask mrs. Cunningham to offer some comments and then to make the motion Thank You mr. chairman I want to tell you a little bit about our appointee our nominee tonight Cynthia Wimberly retired from the Polk County School Board March 31st of this year after 32 years working in school nutrition she worked at Dundee Elementary Bethune Elementary and Academy Sand Hill Elementary Lake Marion Creek and then went back to Sand Hill to finish her career miss Wimberly is vested in the well-being

068of the schools in the area miss Wimberly is an air kemp's from an Air Force family and she has traveled the world but comes from one of the oldest families in Dundee she graduated from Haines City High School and her daughters are Haines City High School graduates and she has many friends and family in the Northeast area and I'm proud to tell you that Miss Wimberly was also named our 2019 school-related Employee of the Year thus yes right thus it is my honor and pleasure this evening to nominate Cynthia webberley to the Polk County sales tax committee and I would like to make a motion to approve miss Wimberly any discussion so the motion on the floor is approval of the appointment of Cynthia Wimberly to the sales tax oversight committee all in favor please

069say aye aye any opposed motion carries next item re on our agenda is item r51 and this is approval of resolution 2018 2019 - 15 waiving the bidding process for the purchase of fuel in the event of a hurricane or tropical storm in our geographical vicinity what's the pleasure of the board a motion a second any discussion so the motion on the floor is approval of resolution 2002 2018 2019 - 15 waiving the bidding process for the purchase of fuel in the event of a hurricane / tropical storm in our geographical vicinity all in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion carries the next item on our agenda is item R 52 and this is authorization authorizing the superintendent to approve contracts bid awards and other find out financial documents as needed between school

070board meetings with ratification to occur at the next school board meeting what's the pleasure of the board we have a motion a second any discussion so the motion on the floor is to authorize the superintendent to approve contracts bid Awards and other financial documents as needed between school board meetings in the case of emergencies all in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion carries the next item is our 53 and this is approval of resolution 2018 2019 day 16 related to Florida sales tax revenue bonds we had a rather lengthy discussion or at a prior work session what's the pleasure of the board we have a motion a second any discussion mr. townsend just for the the benefit of the crowd particularly folks in Bartow what what's really at stake here is whether we're

071able to do the the Bartow High renovation that's that's that's been on the books for a long long time we're gonna be able to accelerate that we're gonna bond a little bit more money than we had intended to but we will still have 27 to 28 million dollars a year at least to do maintenance projects and and other projects as we go but doing this bond will allow us to add the the Bartow high massive matte master plan to the O the overall plan and they I think we're essentially last in line from the original sales sales sales sales tax we owe them an upgrade and so that's that's really what this is about thank you mr. Townsend is 40 oh yeah that would be the 50 million not 200 million would be Bartow high

072school I just want to clarify we're adding that to it sorry Thank You miss Whitney thanks for the clarification so the motion on the floor we have a second we have a motion in a second to approve the resolution 2018-2019 de 16 the fourth Florida sales tax revenue bonds well it's a pleasure of the board all favorite please scuse me all in favor please say aye any opposed motion carries the 200 million got my attention the next item is our 54 and this is confirmation approval of amendment number 1 to Radek instructions contract for a guaranteed maximum price of 970 thousand seven or $22 per their proposal dated April 2nd 2019 and what's the pleasure of the board motion a second any discussion so the motion on the floor is conformation approval of amendment number

0731 to Radek instructions contract for a guaranteed maximum price of nine hundred seventy thousand seven or $20 per their proposal dated April 12 2019 all in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion carries the next item is our 55 and this is approval of the pre-construction services fee of 25 thousand dollars for the Davenport elementary campus renovation what's the pleasure of the board second we have a motion and a second any discussion so the motion on the floor is approval of the pre-construction services fee of twenty five thousand twenty five thousand dollars for the Davenport elementary campus renovation all in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion carries next item is our fifty-six and this is approval of the pre-construction services fee of $50,000 for the mulberry senior campus renovation and to approve

074the superintendent and facility staff to move forward upon review with Radha constructions guaranteed maximum price proposal for this project what's the pleasure of the board we have a motion a second any discussion all right so the motion on the floor approved the precursor action services via $50,000 for the mulberry senior campuses renovation and to approve the superintendent of facility staff to move forward upon review with Radha constructions guaranteed maximum price proposal for this project all in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion carries the next items are 57 and this is approval resolution rebel she's new resolution 2018 2019 - 13 for the creation of a sales tax Oversight Committee what's the pleasure of the board approval we have motion a second any discussion mr. Townsend to clarify that a sales tax committee already

075exists but this is this is tied to the renewal of that we have to have to go through the formality of doing doing doing one correct that's yes yes absolutely okay mr. Furr yes sir this authorizes the renewal of the sales tax Oversight Committee any further discussion so the motion on the floor is approval resolution 2018 2019 - 13 for the creation of a sales tax Oversight Committee and again as mr. Townsend said this authorizes the continuation of the half cent sales tax committee all in favor please say aye any opposed motion carries the next item is our 58 in this approval of the lease extension with the city of Lakeland at Mount Tabor Road what's the pleasure of the board motion a second any discussion so the motion on floors approval the lease agreement

076with excuse me the lease extension with the city of Lakeland at Mount Tabor Road all in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion carries the next item is our 59 and this is approval of the lease agreement with new beginnings charter school what's the pleasure of the board we have a motion a second any discussion so the motion on the floor is approval of the lease agreement with new beginning with the new beginnings charter school all in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion carries the next item is our 60 and this approval lease extension with CMV farms at Bailey Road what's the pleasure of the board motion second any discussion so the motion on the floor is approval the lease extension with CMB farms at Bailey Road all in favor please say

077aye aye any opposed motion carries the next item is our 61 and this is approval of the administrative and instructional personnel recommendations what's the pleasure of the board move approval I have a motion and a second any discussion so the motion on the floor is approval of the administrative and instructional personnel recommendations all in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion carries the next item is our 62 and this is approval the non instructional personal recommendations what's the pleasure of the board approval second a motion in a second any discussion the motion on floors approval the non instructional personal recommendations all in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion carries the next items are 63 and this is approval a 10th of the temporary duty assignments what's the pleasure of the board motion

078a second any discussion so the motion on the floor is approval of the temporary duty assignments all in favor please say aye any opposed motion carries we have some charter school projected enrollment votes to take we have six of these so we'll start with poke state college gateway to college high school and the recommendation here by the superintendent is to increase that their enrollment by 23 students for a total PTM of 248 what's the pleasure of the board move approval second we've motion a second any discussion mr. bridges I will be abstaining from voting on this matter due to my relationship with Polk State College and I have completed all the appropriate paperwork Thank You mr. chair so the motion on the floor is approval of the gate of the Polk State College gateway to

079college high by 23 students for a total of 248 PTMs all in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion carries next item is approval of the Victory Ridge Academy an increase in their enrollment by 15 for a total a PTM of 275 what's the pleasure of the board second motion a second any discussion so the motion on the floor is to increase the student enrollment at Victory Ridge Academy by 15 for a total of 275 all in favor please say aye any opposed motion carries the next item is approval of the Cyprus Junction Montessori increase in student enrollment by 18 for a total of 200 new or total of 200 students what's what's the pleasure of the board a motion a second any discussion the motion on the floor is to approve an increase

080in the student enrollment at Cyprus junction Montessori by 18 students for a total of 200 students all a favor please say aye aye any opposed motion carries the next item is approval to increase the enrollment for the 2019 2020 school year at discovery High School by 150 students for a total PTM of 850 what's the pleasure of the board move approval second we have a motion in a second any discussion mr. Townsend I'm gonna support this because it's the recommendation and we discussed this at our work session a while back and but I am reluctant the the dis discuss discovery often behaves sort of in the worst ways that a charter school does they got rid of like 60 kids last year I just want to note that for the for the record the we're

081allowing this increase because they're there that they have a high high school and this allows kids to roll to roll up but I would love to see them clean up their act Thank You mr. Townsend is there any any further discussion so the motion on the floor is approval to increase enrollment for the 2019 2,000 schools for a total of 850 PTM all in favor please say hi any opposed motion carries the next item is approval to increase enrollment for the 2019 2020 school year at Bock Academy by 200 for a total PTM of four hun contingent on proof of building capacity what's the pleasure of the board move approval second motion in a second we have discussion miss Reynolds I just wanted to comment that at the work session when we discussed this there

082was some concern over whether or not they had a building secured and we do have a letter staying sadee stating exactly where they will be and what the facility will look like so thank you to Bach for providing that letter in advance thank you Miss Reynolds any further discussion so the motion on floors approved is approval to increase enrollment for the 2019 2020 school year Bach Academy Academy by 200 for a total PTM of 400 contingent upon proof of the building and capacity and apparently they've already done that for us all in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion carries the last item on our agenda is approval of the previous PTM of 1650 for the 2019 2020 school year for lakewell senior high school what's the pleasure of the board we have approval

083second motion second any discussion the motion on the floor is approval of the previous PTM of 1654 the 2019 2020 school year for lakewell senior high all in favor please say aye aye aye any opposed motion carries and I think that's our agenda so madam superintendent do you have a report yes I do June meetings will be held at 12:30 in the superintendent's conference room on Tuesday June 18 followed by the school board meeting at 5:00 p.m. held in the auditorium located at 19 15 South Florida New I want to wish everyone as this is our last meeting before the end of the school year the last day of school is May 30 for our students it is an early dismissal day but I wanted to make sure I think all of our teachers students

084parents and community for entrusting your children with us this school year but a special thank you to our teachers we appreciate your hard work your dedication that you did for us with our students and I want to make sure that everyone knows as we end in close the school year that we want you to make sure you enjoy the summers off with your family your friends and make sure you come back rejuvenate it because we'll be ready to go again and I will miss you guys over the summer but I want you to get rest and I look forward to when you come back that concludes my announcements Thank You Madame superintendent mr. bridges mr. chair requests authority advertised public hearing for June the 18th 2019 1 for policy revisions and one for the student

085progression plan we need them we need a vote on that yes sir okay so like I'd entertain a motion to do as mr. bridges indicated moved we have motion a second any discussion so mr. bridges would you read that into the record one more time please yes the motion is to approve authority to advertise a public hearing for June 18 2019 to to cover the policy revisions that were discussed at the work session first reading today and the student progression plan also discussed at first reading today Thank You mr. bridges all in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion carries thank you mr. chair I'll see to the advertisement thank you sir so at this time we'll go to our board members reports excuse me miss Matthews do we have report thank thank you

086Miss Matthews thanks for the great job you always do we'll start with our board members reports we'll start with mr. Townsend okay a couple of things to cover first wanted to to recommend to anyone out there if you get a chance to go serve as a judge for the Tropicana speech comment contest at one of your schools it's it's one of my favorite things to do it's authentic education and where kids get up and write something and present it to you and they're there their peers are really incredibly supportive of them which which which I always find very moving our our schools are sort of gonna talk about in a second are Arden eight our neighborhood schools or some of some of the most integrated play places in America and you have kids of all

087different types who are supportive of each other telling each other story talent telling it in sophisticated ways and and I can tell you I've done this now for three years in a row at one one school and the and the quality keeps getting better very very very proud of them I've done it at dick dick dick dick seal and Elementary and at North North light island and just I always want to give a shout out to them secondly I wanted to talk about this at the work session but we went for like five and a half straight straight straight straight hours we had another and we had a bad incident on one of our buses for for Senate senator schools our schools for for profoundly disabled kids last last last week that made some news

088I you know I know we have done some some some work to improve to improve that I'm gonna be continuing to talk more about that I think one of the things we need to do I and I would like to see us do it is start to treat the buses that serve those kids as an extension of those schools I think right now we treat them as as buses that get special services I think we need to treat treat them as extensions of those schools and you know we've made some some some progress after Teresa got these death and in in in getting the the the 800 megahertz system and get it getting our buses all of them more safe and and and tied in to that I think we need to take a closer

089look at specifically the buses that that that serve profoundly disabled children and I'll just be continuing to talk about not that I meant to talk about this that at the work session we just ran out of time so I I'm making the point here and sort of lastly I wanted to briefly well or not not really circle around a bit - what happened last month or when when when we had the folks come to talk to us about about bullying I think that was a highly emotional hearing I think good has already come out out of it I think the we we had one of the things that was very encouraging about the work session this morning is we have a pretty detailed pretty III like what I see plan for addressing behavioral client climate

090it's it's again it's it's it's it's a pretty detailed thing I would I would urge you to to take a look at the work session it's it's it's it's important and we're integrating how we address bullying into that plan we have a really I think well-thought-out protocol for calling for help now for for for any kind of severe but behavioral issue I'm hoping that we'll sort of pump bullying into that plan the the plan is being is being developed still it's it's it's a fluid plan and anything that works with human human beings is gonna require some trial and error but you know I think as painful as that was last week the benefit that comes out of those kind of public confrontations sometimes could be pretty significant and so I thank everybody who came

091and stuff suffered through it particularly from from the school but from but for the parents as well I mean everybody's experience is their experience and I'm really focused on trying to make that the best that they could they can be and I'm also very very committed to making sure everybody gets gets their say you know we're public officials and we should listen to you and sort of along those lines there's a couple of pieces of information that I did not have when when the meeting happened last last week that I wanted to state for the record one is that there apparently was and I've confirmed this one of the one of the parents an outside state investigation of of the a legate a legate enough abuse and it was found to be no no no

092negligence by the school you know I think that's an important fact to be known I also think it's important to be known that the school called in our bullying team that we have at the district that was concerned that we had not because I hadn't heard that said but we did now I think we can use that team more effectively than we've been than using them and I think that's gonna be part of the plan and I think I wanted to commend the superintendent for her statement this morning again I would urge you go watch the work session you know she she she made a nice public statement about it today and I think the the combination of supporting school and staff with taking the issue of bullying serious area seriously or child cruel cruelty

093whatever you want to call it I mean is is important and it's a good outcome I also want to say for the record I don't believe medulla has a bullying problem that has not existed in any school that has ever been in existence and it please [Applause] you know including those that I attended as a kid I think sometimes as adults we forget what being a kid is like and I the the you know it that also doesn't mean there aren't problems with with bullying there are problems with cruelty and it's incumbent upon all of us to work together to find thoughtful caring solutions to it and just sort of to finish this off there were two parents who reached out to me who wanted their experience of a medulla stated they were they were

094they were a little concerned about coming and speaking themselves but I talked to both both of them I verified both of their letters so if you'll indulge me first first for a second I want to I want to read their their experiences okay the the first is she she writes this I I wanted to take the time to share my family's experience with the staff at medulla Elementary I currently have two two children enrolled at the school both who have had a very positive and encouraging experience with staff last June we had moved to Lakeland from out of state my children headed to the same small school from the time they started pre-k at three three years old needless to say after six years they had made friends and appreciated the familiarity and routine of

095their first and only elementary school moving to Florida was a big change for them filled with anxieties and worries from from all of us in the last ten months my children have adjusted fantastically to a new bigger school new routines new friends and a new way of life a huge part of this has to do with the wonderful teachers my children have been in contact with every day my oldest who I had a glad I had my biggest concerns for is in fourth grade and has miss Coleman as her teacher miss Coleman has taken the time and effort to help my child grow and Excel this past year she was empathetic to my child's anxiety and nert and nervousness moving to a new place and entering a new school system she has been phenomenal with

096communication from sharing successes at school in real-time as well as addressing concerns this has been a fantastic year for my child whose biggest worry was if other kids would like her and if she would make any friends after two years of girls endlessly bullying her at her old school because of her size shyness she has had her first year of not having to deal with the emotional baggage that brings and it has been a relief for both of us my youngest who is in second grade has MS Sanyang and Miss C Thomas as her her her teachers we have had far fewer concerns due to her being such an outgoing and so social child who was confident and easily adapts ms sen yang who was her home homeroom teacher and my primary contact has had

097a very open line of communication i feel she listened to us from when we first met her at orientation and we're worried about what this new school would bring my child has had a fantastic time has been challenged and truly enjoys going to school and seeing her friends and learning everyday we have had a positive experience across both grades as well as the clubs and activities they're a part of we feel the t the teachers and support staff work hard to provide an engaging learning environment I appreciate taking any way that's since since and Sarah Sarah Lee I'm gonna keep the parents name out because she was a little concerned about I identify her a child this is the second it's a little shorter my son has been attending school at medulla elementary since kindergarten

098he's now in the fifth grade with only two weeks left of school were sad to say goodbye to Madonna it has been an amazing school and we were going to miss all the wonderful teachers and especially mrs. Richardson who was the efferent principal we were happy when the previous principal retired and the school hired miss our she brought a new light and positive energy to the school that I feel was missing before prior to her there were there were no yearbooks no field day no fifth grade dance no no dress-up days I feel like the school was a little less fun kids need some fun to learn at this age I've had one small incident the school in the last six years my son has been been there it happened earlier this year I went

099into the office to file a complaint at 8:30 a.m. the very next morning mrs. Richardson had called me and handled the situation immediately I couldn't have been more pleased and satisfied with how she handled the problem so when I read the article in the newspaper to heard all the negative things being said about madela I felt like I needed to stand up and say something we love you mrs. Richardson and we stand by you 100% thank you for making madula a better school you know I think everybody's experience is their experience and I mean those those experiences are just as look legitimate as the children who had bad experiences and you might just I I try to talk about common purpose a lot and and trying to be as as honest with each other as

100we can be and as understanding as we can be and again I thank particularly the staff Roma dalla I mean you you sacrificed a lot of pain last month but I think what's come out of that is something pretty good and and I'm encouraged that we may have a better system in place moving ahead one that gives all of you gives our principles gives everybody the tools they need to be to be successful in these very very difficult situations so I I appreciate you guys and Doulton insulting me on this and thanks thank you mr. Townsend Ms Fortney well I handled numerous communications I will not read them all through email from people who supported the staff at Medela from concerned parents which I immediately forwarded to superintendent Byrd and she with the speed of

101light responded to those concerns for those parents I want to publicly apologize to Mandela for not asking better questions last board meeting I will not make that mistake again miss Coleman who was mentioned in that letter is a former student of mine and and I would never disrespect my profession like that again anyways on a positive note I have so many things that I've done I just want to do some shout outs I went to the food service picnic last month that was just amazing over at Winter Haven the Roosevelt Spring Fling our hearth Awards which were amazing I promise you when superintendent Byrd pulled out those laptops I felt like it was you get a car and you get a car and you get those kids faces were brilliant it was just and the

102volunteer of the year our PR department big yay Ridge and Travis our open houses we have so many good programs going on Jim miles we had the Tibbets competition I've never seen kids love math so much that was amazing modality I'll do tivitz oh my goodness Wow excellent Beth Cummings Nancy Paris Paris Paris oh my goodness the visual arts and I was at Monde park again a superintendent Byrd and I and I was taking pictures of him up there because I had the camera called the phone but it's alive and well I mean our arts are alive and well and I just am so thankful that we're not a district that cuts that Trish Pfeiffer speaking of Arts she made a small presentation last last board meeting bar to middle school Bartow high school you

103a the mayor's art club I see Mayor Longworth are you still the mayor okay not yet okay you already got okay yes sir well Commissioner Longworth this year and his mayor's art club I went to the presentation of that at Bartow memorial who by the way paid for artwork they are looking for community sponsors if you have not been in Bartow Medical Center and seeing our students artwork that is on the walls even the stories that people tell people are sick they're walking in the hallways and it just brightens their day that's all done because of communicate community involvement from the City Commission the schools and our business partners and that's the kind of stuff we need I saw mr. Rios was here earlier I put this on Facebook carnival that they did oh my

104goodness I thought I was at a Broadway show y'all need to look that up spessard Holland the video awards those are awesome Lake Eva did a Northeast Chamber Breck much some but they honored our Teacher of the Year and our school related Employee of the Year which I thought was really really nice Tico I noticed superintendent Byrd you went on a different tour you must have been on private because I didn't see you out there okay okay during I missed you that was so exciting so exciting FFA banquet the Pope Builders Association mr. Hill was our speaker and that was entertaining and then we did the Fresh Start graduation which I you took 200 kids that got a second chance at a high school diploma that was humbling for me to be up on that

105stage very humbling speaking of humbling humbly asks that somebody consider Bartow middle school getting a new gym we they don't have a gym I think they're gonna be the only middle school without a gym once we're done hint hint okay and then I have something superintendent I have met three times I believe about a concern that I've had about people and I mentioned this earlier because I it's just out of my mouth and I see people I know and I love I see mr. Ruffin who I called family mr. Mancino I just want to make something perfectly clear I do not I am a person that believes in consistency in the classroom I think we don't need subs every day we need the same teachers year after year the same administrators that consistency is what

106we have been lacking I worked in this County when it was dysfunctional as a teacher before superintendent Byrd it was not a pleasant place to be I actually spent six years out of this County in Highlands County so I am publicly supporting super I may not agree with everything she does or says and she I'm sure won't with me right right now but I respect her I respect her opinion I respect her position I have never called for her to be displaced replaced relocated and I will never call for that as long as we're all putting students first which is the only reason I ran for this godforsaken job thank you [Applause] hey thank you thank you Miss Fortney I think miss Cunningham yeah what an act to follow huh oh my goodness okay here

107we go the first thing I'd like to do is announce that we're going to be having a Davenport elementary school community meeting on Tuesday May the 28th from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the Davenport community center and Miss Angela uh sure is putting that together for us in order to let the community know what's going to be going on at the school as far as construction debris noise dust etc etcetera so if you would like to join us we would invite any of you here tonight to be a part of that and join us on Tuesday May the 28th secondly I just want to do a shout out to Davenport School of the Arts each year the drama department collects $1.00 sold from every theatre production and they donate it to a charity and this

108year they decided to donate it to Ronald McDonald House Charities and we had a presentation and I want to do a thank you to Miss Rachael Pleasant because they had like about a 24 hour turnaround from Saturday night to the Monday morning to create a big one of those big presentation checks for us and the amount that was donated this year was two thousand and seven hundred dollars whoa I'm so proud of the school and the kids and everybody who worked so hard to raise those dollars and to learn how to give back which is the most important part of how we educate our students want to give a shout out to the Haines City high school theater department they did a fabulous show called The Addams Family mr. Jerry Henry did a great job

109and all the students and it was just fabulous so thanks for everybody who worked on that I attended the youth leadership graduation celebration that the chamber put on they not only did the Teacher of the Year and school-related Employee of the Year recognition we also every year graduate a group of students from the youth leadership program and it's a five day long program throughout the year where they get to go to different businesses and industry in polk county and learn about all different types of jobs and fields and then it culminates with a trip to Tallahassee to see how government works so congratulations to each of those children who completed that program and once again to the chamber for putting it on I too attended the Polk County Builders Association blueprint and model competition awards

110and I just want to say thank you to miss Alice hunt and her vision and and and foresight because the Polk County Builders Association have awarded since 1995 one hundred and ninety three thousand dollars in projects blueprint competitions and scholarships to both high school and college students right here in Polk County that is a lot of money through the year so thank you I do want to say shout out to our volunteers of the year according to the statistics of that morning our volunteers in Polk County Schools to date which was last week donated over two hundred thousand hours in our classrooms helping students that is amazing amazing and I know there's many of you out there as well that are part of that and on behalf of our school board and most importantly our

111students thank you to our volunteers because quite frankly we couldn't do it without you additionally I want to just give a shout out to dr. Michael akes who is our chief academic officer for the Polk County School District and he was recently inducted into Florida's southern colleges circle of leaders and we attended that and it was such a wonderful wonderful afternoon to be able to say thank you to him and induct him in this most prestigious circle and I might want to say that our inaugural member into this elite group of individuals was none other than our superintendent mrs. jackie byrd last year so we are very proud of both of you and was a lovely ceremony and congratulations to you now board members this is an invitation for you as most of you may

112know Pam Henderson who used to be the principal at Dundee Elementary Academy passed away this past year and we are doing a dedication to miss Pamela Henderson in the garden there which is something that I believe she was very fond of and it was a very important part of who she was at that school and so I'm going to be passing to each one of you a copy of this our celebrate our legacy to DEA is going to be on May 30th the last day of school at 10 o'clock in the morning at Dundee Elementary Academy and we would love for any of you who can attend in order to memorialize miss Henderson we got a sneak peak when we walked around and got to see the garden it's quite beautiful and she loved butterflies

113and so it is appropriately themed did I do that right y'all get one everybody everybody got one okay so I'm excited to invite you all to be a part of that as well trying to think and I'm also want to give a shout out to Dundee Elementary Academy for being the second Elementary School in Polk County to receive the IB in the early years program so very proud of our school and I'm very excited that one of my goals when I ran a hundred years ago was to be able to have on the east side of the county a progression from elementary middle and high school for our IB program and we now have that in place and it's doing well in all three from Dundee Elementary to Dundee Ridge Academy middle and then to

114Haines City High School IB program so and with that I just want to tell everybody like I always do at the end of school children read read read we have the best library cooperative in Polk County try to check out books if your library doesn't have it another one will and they will send them to your library for you to check out so with that that concludes my report mr. chairman thank you miss Cunningham miss Reynolds Thank You mr. chairman I'm not going to repeat all of the wonderful events that Miss Fortney and miss Cunningham have already mentioned it's the most exciting time of the year I think because we get to celebrate every day the things that are happening every day all year long in our classroom and but we actually get to to

115see all of these students in one place a couple of the things that I do when a highlight is our hearth luncheon which a couple of my colleagues had already mentioned our speaker from this year came back from last year and when he came back this year he had on his own raised between six and seven hundred dollars in gift cards to give out to the students so it just I think speaks volumes that not only did he not charge us to come back and speak because he believes in what we're doing but he went out on his own and had friends and family members donate 50 and hundred dollar gift cards to to these students too so I just think it's incredible and I wish I could remember his name because I can picture

116his face and it has totally flown out the window um but I just wanted to give a big shout out to him it's in Lori's program so she's gonna look it up real quick um but then also I went to an Addams Family Auburndale high school was a huge success they ran for three nights last weekend and they made over $5,000 which is incredible they had over a hundred people at every show which it's a rebuilding year there's a brand new teacher there so they were thrilled and the show was I work at a theater so I like to think that I know a little bit about what's going on on stage would never go on stage but I know what's going on on stage and so it looked beautiful the set was beautiful you

117could hear everybody which with high schoolers is really incredible when they're on stage um but so kudos to Miss Moore Johnson and her team and the speaker was this is the volunteer of the year it's a different program but that's okay he was a great speaker I promise hmm and then finally I had the opportunity to speak with the Winter Haven Kiwanis M Club at lunch last week and I will say and I told them this I totally stole miss Byrd's PowerPoint that she uses for every presentation so I can't take any credit for that but they're now very upset about how we calculate graduation rates because that's how the state makes us do it and so I told them I would tell our legislators and that they can too but it was really cool

118to see them get that aha moment of oh that's why we only have like an 80% graduation rate it's because all of these kids don't count so it was very exciting just to see them kind of understand what what we do and what we're up against so thank you miss Byrd for sharing your craft you work with me um and thank you to the Kiwanis Club for inviting me to speak and let me talk about what we do every day and with that I will conclude my comments thank you miss Reynolds miss fields I just have a couple of things I want to be mindful at a time I want to excuse me I want to commend the graduates of for the first start program they graduated from high school in last Thursday and these

119are students who have really struggled and they sometimes given up hope and they don't believe that they can achieve what we ultimately want for each of our students which is to graduate from high school and I believe they were almost 200 if not more students that graduated from first start and we want to congratulate them and thank the staff for their hard work and then last at our last board meeting I was not able to be present due to my obligations at girls Inc and I wanted to personally go to Medela elementary school and see firsthand what was going on there and I was just amazed and in awe when mrs. Richardson sat down with me and she took time to share with me all of the documents and got a chance to meet some

120of the staff and they're just amazing and she has a great team and and I'm just I'm just so thankful that we have such a jewel in our community and that would be Mandela elementary school and so I want to thank them for their heart working for the dedication and and for just going the extra mile each and every day for our students and then lastly I want to to thank all of the employees who support United Way of Central Florida as was stated earlier over 100 agencies benefit from the hard work that the employees do by donating to United Way so thank you from the bottom of our hearts and that is my report mr. chairman I wanted to mention a couple of things that may this is the time of year where all

121of these events are happening and most of us are making them to all to represent the school board I did get to meet some students from auburndale high school that were outstanding and part of the armor Dell chambers leadership program they have which I thought was really interesting very similar to our Polk leadership are the city's leadership programs that has done with adults albarn Dale school selects students to go through the program and it shows them how the city works and how the different job opportunities that are available so it was fun to meet to meet those students and poke museum of art is a great showcase of they are Smithsonian related which is very rare so if you have not been to the Pope Museum of Art I suggest you go and see our

122students works on display because it is it is really amazing the video awards are always my favorite I can tell you they do professional productions creating either documentaries or small films with different topics so if you've never been to that I encourage you to try that next year also I got to visit the AG program and the in the county AG Awards which I thought was very interesting that's not something I had a lot of experience in but I enjoyed meeting those students and seeing what they've done I want to remind they're still learning over the summer our summer program is from June 5th to the 27th so students will still be learning over the summer in organized programs and also with the city and different programs throughout the summer we want to encourage that

123for all students and and give them those opportunities and I wanted to commend mr. Hill the superintendent gave him a chart in charge of this behavior we keep talking about behavior and the needs in our community in our schools and he set together a committee that did a presentation today and if you don't watch our work sessions they're available on YouTube I suggest that if you have time that you do go to those they dock you stamp them so you can skip through to the subject areas that are interesting to you but the presentation today about the committee that's come together to work on our behavior supports in our schools it's you know an investment of millions of dollars but we are really looking at a systemic way of changing how we operate because yes

124everyone has their own experiences and I think we are moving from a compliance based system to really a compassionate whole child whole experience kind of movement and I'm very proud of that and it's something that committee will work on continuously throughout the year and the years ahead again I think the board members for all of your and you know all your commitment to the community we are at everything and I think it's important that board members do become a part of their communities and learn what's happening all the graduations coming up are going to be super and I can't wait to take to take part in those so that is the end of my report Thank You mr. chairman thank you miss Miller we have a stack of cards for speakers more so than many

125times over more than I've seen since I've been on the board the board has been going strong since 12:30 this afternoon and I'm pretty sure that one of my colleagues is going to file a grievance with the Labor Relations Board if we don't take a short break so we're gonna take you just as very short ten-minute recess we'll reconvene and we'll open with the public comments you