001and I would like to invite miss Annalise Warren to come forward to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance and she's making her way up to the podium bring the mic down for her please okay miss Annalise whenever you're ready I pledge allegiance to a flat ananias to America and to a public which it stands one nation under God when the visible lipstick Justin saw we love our flag or beautiful beautiful all right you may be seated except for Annalise hold on Annalise Wow you were fabulous and you sang - you have now set a new president for our board meetings everyone who comes now is gonna have to sing a song you did wonderful sweetheart can you tell us Annalise how old are you five Wow and what school do you go to Stevens
002and Ella Wow and what do you like to do at school I like a learn your pleasure and she's also gonna be our poster child for the school district yes and are you going to have some fun this summer yes what are you gonna be doing I would do um you're gonna go swim in Long Beach or what do you like to do in the summer I like it go swimming in the pool awesome well you are just such a blessing to us and we thank you for coming here today you a terrific job with the pledge and I hope you have an awesome summer let's give her another round of applause yeah oh yes and you got to tell us who is with you here today daddy Nana Papa and I understand that your
003grandmother works for the polk county district here in the superintendent's office is that correct is that your Nana one what's your Nana's name Miss Elizabeth Warren right you are so cute you just have to stay here the whole day that's all there is to it so thank you so much Annalise you have a wonderful summer and we'll see you come do the pledge again promise yes okay sounds great thank you dear [Applause] now at this time I would like to call the Polk County school board meeting for June 19 2008 team to order and now it is time to accept the agenda madam superintendent are there any revisions to the agenda as printed we have a few items c5 recognitions kids tag art and IMC 66 administrative and instructional personnel actions replaced backup item 69
004administrative contracts replaced backup that concludes the revisions to today's agenda thank you madam superintendent what is the pleasure of the board today okay I have a motion by misfiled and a second by Miss summers is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye all those opposed like sign motion carries okay now we're going to have our special recognitions mrs. bird do we have any recognitions today yes we do I would like to add school board member saraberry knows too please step to the front for our special recognitions our director of the poke Education Foundation Susan Copeland will now come forward to recognize Kelly line Breton who sponsored scholarships through the foundation good afternoon everyone most of you I think are familiar with our take stock and children program it's
005a scholarship program that looks for students who may not have the funds to attend college but if given the means they would certainly be successful many are also the first in their families to ever go to college so they don't always have a support system that knows how to navigate the process so that's something that our staff works to do each year is there's a class of graduates we replace our graduates with 25 to 30 or so new students that come into our program so at any given time we probably have a hundred or so in our take stock and children program so we provide services to all of them to keep them successful in addition to having purchased to Florida prepaid scholarship for them we match each with a mentor that's non-negotiable they have
006to meet with their mentor at least twice a month we have a college success coach that visits them at their high school campus and helps them with any need that may come up and then we have college prep social skills all sorts of workshops additionally after school hours so that their parents can attend with them the fact that they know they have a scholarship and a support system certainly acts as an incentive for them to stay in school and graduate and the support of their mentor and our staff I know truly makes a difference as well so as an education foundation we can by Florida prepaid scholarships at a reduced rate and each take stock student has at least a two year award waiting for them when they leave our program we also purchase two
007plus twos or just a four-year scholarship to upgrade seniors who have excelled when they graduate to do all this work we certainly need donors and we certainly need mentors and the guests I have with today actually are both so Kelly lon Brayton come on up Kelly and her husband Tommy are both here and they've made a huge impact on our program over the last two years this couple has donated $25,000 to our Tait stock and children program so you heard me say we had a match very well-deserved applause I agree so the match turns it into $50,000 with our Florida prepaid partnership so with that they've served two students there to graduates one from Lake Region yes that's right and chain of lakes collegiate high school have graduated and are now in college with a
008four-year tuition scholarship due to the Braden's so Kelly we haven't talked Tommy into it yet but Kelly is also a mentor and I can tell you at any given time it's hard to have a hundred active Mentors so Kelly's been a mentor with our take stock and children program for three years and so I just have to say they're all in they give funds and they give their time and it's a big deal and we really appreciate the two of you so what they did was knowing they wanted to help students and then Kelly was telling me about the the values her dad instilled in her for getting an education she said he'd been a teacher at one time I believe it was so they developed the les lon Memorial Scholarship for academic excellence so
009not only are they helping a student go to college to students but they're honoring her fatherís at the same time so I've asked Miss Reynolds to present them with a plaque that gives that award name to thank them I'll let you go up there go ahead and to help honor her father it has the two recipients that they've are helping go to college right now and then you notice all those little blank placards we're hoping that they'll want to fill those all one day with other students that they're supporting so thank you both no we're good thank you all for what you do for children next Scott gear President Polk pilot will now come forward to write to recognize Polk prior we Billy Townsend will read the proclamation whereas Polk County Florida is part of
010a global community in which people of diverse cultures races creeds genders and sexual identities must work together toward peace and understanding and whereas the lesbian gay bisexual transgender and questioning lb LGBTQ students within Polk County contribute to this vibrant innovative culturally inclusive world-class community into 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 the United States and whereas members of the LGBTQ communities still face ongoing discrimination based on their innate status resulting in immeasurable human tragedy loss of life community isolation and abuse and whereas PFLAG of Polk County and Lakeland Youth Alliance envisions a world where diversity is celebrated and all people are respected valued and affirmed inclusive of their sexual orientation gender identity and
011gender expression therefore be it resolved at the school board of Polk County hereby proclaims June 13 through 16 2008 as LGBTQ Pride Week hi I'm Christine Lally I'm stepping in for Scott Guerra today I am president of Lakeland Youth Alliance I have about 55 regular students attending my group every month just to give you a few things that we've done over the last few months in April we through an inclusive LGBTQ open prom where we had 72 kids in attendance and then last Wednesday we had our pride for you celebration with over 55 youth in attendance so thank you for serving my youth in the schools and I will continue to serve them outside the schools um thank you for allowing me to speak my name is Marbella swenders and I'm the parent of a
012transgender student who attends lakelyn High School I stand before you tonight as both a parent and an employee of this district first of all thank you so much for this proclamation your words of acknowledgement and support mean a great deal to the LGBTQ students in our district second I ask that you take the next step and to please back up these words with acknowledgement and support with action as a parent of an LGBTQ child and an educator in this district I know that there are administrators teachers counselors and many others who care about these students and support them I know that these that they encourage the students every day and they do whether it's right for them and they do it because it's the right and the moral thing to do it's time for that
013attitude to be solidified with clear defined LGBT specific policies procedures trainings that are mandated from the county because this is not just about the few handful of LGBTQ students sitting in our classrooms it's about the LGBTQ student parents of students it's about your own LGBTQ employees in your workplaces and about the LGBTQ in the community the community members who have gone through the school system that need to know that they are acknowledged respected accepted supported and loved it needs to be clear to every administrator teacher bus driver cafeteria worker custodian and everyone else that works in this district that you stand on the right side of this issue that you support every student whether they be gay or straight black or white football player or drama student gender fluid or cisgender gifted or yes see
014that you are truly mean what you say when you say students first thank you [Applause] thank you next our director next our director Nancy Puri will now come forth for a special recognition up for kids tag art good afternoon we are here today to accept from our tax collector Joe Tedder the proceeds from the kids tag art program which is now in its 13th year through twelfth year I keep wanting it to be 13 years 12 years but first I would like to thank the board and mrs. Byrd for your wonderful long-term commitment to the Arts in our county we have arts and every single one of our schools and support with teachers and materials because of that commitment and we're so grateful for that mr. cheddar has created the kids tag art program which
015has infused and really transformed all of our arts programs our visual arts programs with materials and equipment and special learning opportunities for our students and so I'd like to introduce mr. Tedder to you and he's gonna say a few words good afternoon thank you very much Nancy it's always a pleasure to be with you this time of year actually normally we do a little bit earlier but it's great to be with you as you know the kids tag art as Nancy said this is our 12th year and as it all great ideas that actually the kids tag art program came from the creative mind of your children the children that exist in a polk county school system as you can imagine the tax collectors office when we're asked to go do the great american teach
016in the first thing we do is try to figure out what in the world is a tax collector going to talk about to a bunch of fifth graders that they would find remotely interesting even most adults what can i when I speak to a Rotary Club I'm thinking what am I going to say to be remotely interesting but we would go and take a bunch of tags especially the tags that you would see in the back of people's cars and we take those and we with thumb through those tags and the kids would see those tags and we'd all talk about what the different tags mean and where the money goes for that and usually a couple of weeks later we would receive thank you notes back from those children for coming to their class
017and they would actually draw their own little tag on their thank-you notes and we thought wouldn't it be wonderful if we can take that artistic expression of that child and actually make it into a product that could be sold and then had that money go right back to the art teachers classroom so that they can do some things with those funds to supplement the wonderful support that this school board has had for several years so that was the idea of the kids tag art we are celebrating a very important time in this particular program 12 years ago 13 years ago when I went to dr. McKenzie and asked her and told her about this idea that we had she was very supportive and the school board was very supportive and because of the great efforts
018of it at the time Frank house which was your director of Fine Arts and then Patricia Lam they became on board and they were extremely supportive and even some of those early supporters like Central Florida Europe cars which was our first major sponsor and a number of other community partners came in and decided that this was important and they would support it and what was neat about this as this program has expanded now beyond Polk County because of this county and the leaders in this county and school board members and former leaders of this school district now with the support of you our current superintendent our current Fine Arts director and Nancy Puri this program was grown and there are over 16 tax collectors that have accepted this program and are starting to do it
019with another six that will be coming on board soon last week I had the opportunity to represent the tax collectors Association and attended the Florida cabinet meeting with all the tax collectors that participate in this program than many others and what we were celebrating was passing the million dollar mark of money raised for the arts classroom through the kids tag art program with all the different tasks lectures it would not have happened it truly would not have happened without the support of the past leadership of this school board and the current leadership of the school board so you should feel just as excited as I was standing up in front of the Florida cabinet receiving a resolution recognizing this program because you were as part of it as much as anything that we did in
020the task lettres office now this year we're going to be giving you our big check that we give you every year and a little smaller check that comes through the Foundation Education Foundation representing this year's funds for just Polk County we've raised more than we've ever raised before and so that is also extremely exciting as well but I thank all of you for your support everything that you do we have a number of community sponsors that if you can just bear with me I want to make sure that I mentioned Legoland Florida d Print Hall Communications a ledger Media Group Publix supermarket Charities mid Florida grasslands at Oakbridge unlimited dpi point and pay the heart the Florida heart Research Institute the Polk Arts Alliance the Polk Education Foundation the Pope Museum of Art and of
021course the Polk County school system and most important of all of us if it wasn't for the amazing art teachers and the elementary classrooms that are doing a great job making sure these kids are prepared in so many ways it would never work so thank you and we'd like to present with you a check for thirty nine thousand one hundred and seventy one dollars and eighty cents [Applause] no I'm sorry school board member Reynolds I'm sorry to be official here since I'm taking something away from you the winner this year she has a little plaque thank you for remembering that and you're going to have to oh it has the well glad he's not here I'd have to get in a fight with him no but this year's winner is Scoob remember hazel sellers [Music]
022[Applause] thank you that concludes all of our recognitions for this evening thank you madam superintendent okay next we will have public comments is there anyone in the audience today that would like to come forward to address any of the items on our agenda anyone all right next we're gonna move on board members to approve our minutes the first group of minutes was for the May 15th work session what is the pleasure of the board move approval of the minutes of the may 15th work session second I have a motion by mrs. sellers in a second by mr. enols to approve the May 15th work session minutes is there any discussion all those in favor please signify by saying aye hi all those opposed like sign all right the motion carries unanimously next we have our
023May 15th school board meeting minutes what is the pleasure of the board we have a motion by mr. enols and a second by Miss fields to approve the May 15th 2018 school board meeting minutes is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed like sign the motion carries next we'll move down to our consent agenda what is the pleasure of the board okay we have a motion by misfiled in a second by micellar x' to approve the consent agenda for June 19 2008 eeen is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed like sign motion carries unanimously now it is time for our new administrator announcements mrs. Byrd do we have any people that we
024would like to recognize today yes we do all right I am pleased to recommend the appointment of Tangela Durham as principal Scott Lake Elementary mr. Humphreys Lee served as assistant principal of Griffin Elementary she attended Troy State University earning a bachelor's degree in elementary education she went on to earn a master's degree in educational leadership and Policy Studies at the University of South Florida welcome miss Jerome [Applause] I'm glad the timer's not on I wanna say thank you to the board and to miss Byrd in the back because you have given me the opportunity to serve all of the Ski students of Scott Lake and I'm excited beyond measure and I cannot wait to begin I think we're gonna meet Thursday morning so I'm very excited and thank you for this opportunity but I have
025a couple people had to thank my mom who is always my biggest supporter and cheerleader even though I know sometimes she wants to throw me to the curb and then my daughter Lizzie who is a product of Polk County Schools she went K through 12 and graduated Avondale high school last year with honors and just finished her first year at Florida State University pre-law on the Dean's List so Polk County Schools producing great students and then my dearest and she's gonna kill me for this but oldest friend Miss BJ Stinson she's my rock and she's also an administrator here in Polk County so thank you I am honored and I cannot wait to begin this journey it's dawn here Dawn's not here she's not well I'll go to read it anyway I'm please recommend the
026appointment of Don Jeffries as a principal of Eastside elementary miss Jeffers previous asserted assistant principal of Highlands Grove Elementary she attended Roberts Wesley College earning a bachelor's degree in elementary education with a Spanish minor she went on to earn her master's degree in education administration from Jones International University well--that's welcomed her even though she's not here but it's a great addition to our team last but not least I'm pleased to recommend the appointment of Kathryn rabe as the principal of Lake ship Elementary Miss Rob fries the service assistant principal of Eagle Lake Elementary she attended the University of Central Florida earning a bachelor's degree in elementary education she went on to earn her master's degree in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University welcome Kathy thank you mrs. Burton and thank you for giving me this
027opportunity at Lake show as well as to the school board I look forward to serving all of those students at Lake ship Elementary putting all students first and moving that school in a terrific direction we have been there as well really getting busy at work and excited about the opportunities ahead I'd also like to introduce the people with me tonight I have three here with me in person and one I think is trying to get signaled to face time with us here but first my husband Andy Rob is back in the back my son Jackson Rob who is currently a student at the Polk County school board he's over at Eagle Lake where I just came from and then my daughter Kylie Rob she is also a graduate from Polk County Schools and at the
028University of Florida currently doing very well on the Dean's List there so go Gators but again thank you for this opportunity I look forward to the year ahead and we're gonna do great things at Lake ship thank you Miss Burton thank you looking forward to it back includes our announcement phone new administrators okay thank you mrs. bird and now we're gonna move on to our regular agenda if some of you are following along there are five items that have been pulled oh yes yes please do your pictures I'm sorry yes yes yes away they were trying to run away yes no no we have a really good photographer so he's gonna make sure he gets okay we are going to move on to our regular agenda and there were several items that were pulled earlier
029so if you're following along even though they may be under our normal consent agenda they were pulled to regular so the first item under human resources services recommendations is now our 66 recommendations for administrative and instructional personnel actions what is the pleasure of the board I have a motion and a second to approve the recommendations for administrative and instructional personnel actions is there any discussion mr. Townsend yes I actually asked that these be pulled and for reasons I'll explain in a bit but the what I want to show to the public who's both attending and watching is that we board board members are asked to vote on personnel issues we are asked to put our names attach our reputations to two decisions involving personnel generally those those happen on the consent agenda where no one
030ever sees them I want to pull them out cuz I'm gonna vote against each one of these I am as I said before very in in the in the meeting this morning and I and I will address this little later I'm dissatisfied with the institutional commitment to a equitable and fair work work force I'm dissatisfied with our ability to protect our people from power that's abused and again I just want to make the public aware we board board members vote for this we ratify these these these these decisions I have a very hard time in good conscience ratifying these you know moving and moving ahead we'll see what I do but for these tintin tonight I'm gonna go I'm going to vote against these Thanks thank you so at this time we have a motion
031and a second anyone else if not all those in favor please signify by saying aye all those opposed like sign no so we have five to one five eyes and one nay the next item is our sixty-seven recommendations for non instructional personnel actions what is the pleasure of the board we have a motion by Miss fields and a second by mr. Harris to approve the recommendations for non instructional personnel actions any discussion seeing that all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed like sign no okay so we have the motion carries five eyes and one nay the next item under human resource services recommendations is item number R 68 recommendations for temporary duty assignments what is the pleasure of the board move for approval second I have a motion by
032micellar x' and a second by Miss Reynolds to approve the recommendations for temporary duty assignments is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed like sign no and the motion carries eyes 5 yes and 1 nay the next item is item number R 69 instructional / non instructional contract reappointments for school year 2018-2019 what is the pleasure of the board move for approval I have a motion by Miss sellers and a second by miss fields to approve the instructional non instructional contract reappointments for the school year 2000 in 18 - 2019 is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed like sign no okay we have five eyes and one nay the next item is
033our seventy administrative contract reappointments for the school year 2018 2019 what is the pleasure of the board I have a motion by Miss Reynolds and a second by Miss files to approve the administrative contract reappointments for school year 2018 2019 is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed like sign no so we have five eyes and one nay under administration general items we have head start administration cola additional award in the amount of two hundred and fourteen thousand and forty two dollars what is the pleasure of the board move approval we have a motion by mr. Harris and a second by Miss Reynolds is there any discussion sorry miss fields is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying
034aye did you vote aye aye okay all right look those opposed like sign motion carries six to zero unanimous under business services general items we have are 74 2018-2019 emergency authorization for the superintendent to approve contracts bid awards and other financial documents as needed between board meetings what is the pleasure of the board move for approval second I have a motion by miss sellers and a second by mr. Harris to approve the 2018-2019 emergency authorization for Superintendent is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed like sign motion carries unanimously to 0 the next item is under business services general items are 75 resolution 2018 2019 - 0 6 which would waive the bidding process for the purchase of fuel in the event of a
035hurricane or tropical storm in our area what is the pleasure of the board I have a motion by misfiled and a second by Miss Reynolds to approve resolution 2018 2019 - 0-6 is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed like sign motion carries 6 2 0 next we have under business services contracts are 76 CE o PS interlocal agreement amendment with the Polk County Sheriff's Office for an increase in cost of thirty seven thousand two hundred and eighty six dollars what is the pleasure of the board I have a motion by mr. Harris and a second by Miss Reynolds to approve the CEO PS interlocal agreement amendment with the Polk County Sheriff's Office is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please
036signify by saying aye hi all those opposed like sign motion carries under facilities and operations general items property management the first item is our 77 Lincoln Avenue Academy PTO land donation what is the pleasure of the board I have a motion by misfiled and a second by Miss Reynolds is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye hi all those opposed like sign and the motion carries the next item is our 78 JK Stuart Properties LLC donation what is the pleasure of the board approval second I have a motion by mr. Townsend and a second by micellar x' to approve the JK stewart properties donation is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye all right all those opposed like sign motion carries
037our next item is our 79 conveyance of property on old Lake Alfred Road to the Board of County Commissioners I have a motion by mr. Harris and a second by mr. enols to approve the conveyance of the property on old Lake Alfred Road to the Board of County Commissioners is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye all right all those opposed like sign motion carries next we have under Support Services general items are 80 community eligibility provision for the 2018 2019 school year what is the pleasure of the board second I have a motion by misfiled and a second by mr. Townsend to approve the community eligibility provision for the 2018-2019 school year is there any discussion mr. Harris in all good conscience I can't support this for
038one simple reason tax dollars are being spent to provide lunches and breakfast meals for families with six-figure incomes I feel that is inappropriate use of tax dollars and it is being done as a way to cut back on administrative activities or cost I understand it is an easier fix but in my opinion it is a more costly fix for the community even though it's federal dollars that are going to be paying for breakfast and lunch it still sends the message to the community to accept welfare even if you don't need it and if you're making a hundred thousand dollars a year I'm sorry the taxpayer should not be buying your child's lunch at school so I can't support this thank you Thank You mr. Harris mr. Townsend I just want to there's an additional well
039you know again everybody pays taxes let me pay federal income tax and that money goes up to Washington DC and then it comes back here and cellphones ring while it comes back down but you know I think this is is money that allow allows us to provide additional services and particularly what it allows us to do is have kids who need to have food do it without having a stigma of being a being of being the kid who gets laughs laughed at because they they need to have free free lunch this what Tim didn't L tell you is that during the work session today our staff member thought talking about this said that after the hurricane last year when when we did sort of a there was sort of a temporary version of this lunches
040at George George State chicken's high surged there there was there was a surge of people who would have been eligible any anyway who went and who went and got fed you know when be because the the the stigma was gone and I think we're all in the business of being students first here and I think it's important that we take as much stigma away from our kids as we can and I just think this is a common-sense use of tax money and I support it Thank You mr. Townsend mrs. fields we discuss this morning that when this idea was brought to us years ago by Marsha Smith who was the person over food services at that time it was basically to allow high school students who were maybe embarrassed to go through the lunch line
041getting free or reduced lunch to just go to the lunch line without anybody knowing what their economic status might be and so that was in my recollection the reasoning for the program getting started and so I think one of the questions that we wanted to know this morning and it was answered is that not all of the students that would be in the in the area that mr. Harris weapons would be receiving lunches some of them would and so at the end of the day I think that it's good for us to be able to provide a meal to any child who is in need of that thank you miss fields okay so all of those in favor of approving the community eligibility provision for the 2018 through 2019 school year please signify by saying
042aye all right all those opposed like sign hey that would be 5 to 1 motion carries next under workforce charter school division we have our 81 and I'm going to be reading off and I believe we need to vote on each one individually the following none high performing charter schools are requesting an increase in their Ruhlman those are a high-performing automatically are allowed to up their enrollment but those who are non high-performing have to come to the board for a vote and we have five of them tonight so bear with us the first one is Cypress Junction Montessori is requesting to increase their enrollment by 22 to 182 to add eighth grade what is the pleasure of the board second I have a motion by mr. Townsend and a second by mrs. sellers to approve
043Cypress Junction Montessori request to increase their enrollment to 182 is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed like sign motion carries six to zero the second one is discovery high school is requesting to increase their enrollment to 180 to address to address the addition of their 12th grade what is the pleasure of the board move for approval second we have miss sellers who made a motion and it's seconded by mrs. to approve discovery High School's request to increase their enrollment to 180 for the addition of their 12th grade is there any discussion mr. Harris discovery high school is in Lake Alfred and it wants to increase its student enrollment by 180 students yet you as the taxpayer have empty seats at Tina Rock High
044School and they're asking for additional seats to be paid for in Lake Alfred we need high school seats other places in the county not there this is not a wise use of tax dollars to increase that charter schools seats while we have empty seats sitting over at 10 Rock High School I don't think that's the appropriate thing to do in this case thank you Thank You mr. Harris mr. Townsend additionally I've had some criticisms of the discovery system at the middle school school level I pointed this out a few weeks back they got rid of dismissed voluntarily dismissed 60 kids last last year including about 10% of their african-american pop population I you know I think that was at the middle school level not at the high school level but I these these things are
045intended to flow into one another so I'm not gonna be able to support this either Thank You mr. Townsend miss Sellars I understand the concerns but when we approved this charter we approved it with the understanding that they would roll up an ad an 11th grade and a 12th grade so this is to accommodate the uprising 12th graders their seats to me it would be very first of all we approved the plan and this was the plan to add these this isn't a new request this was an ongoing part of the plan that we approved to begin with but I'm thinking about the juniors now that are going to be seniors and not to approve it how disruptive that will be to those 180 kids that are moving up to 12th grade so therefore I
046will be approving it I'm approving it for the kids so thank you thank you mrs. sellers mrs. fields I just did Oh miss miss sellers I would think it would be very challenging for the students and for the families to have gone through 11th grade and then their 12th grade year they have to seek another high school so and we did agree is miss seller said prior to to this so I will be supporting the motion thank you miss fields so at this time the motion on the floor is to approve discovery high schools request to increase their enrollment to 184 to add the 12th grade all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed like sign no we have a the eyes have it for to to nays our next
047item is for Polk State collegiate Lakeland gateway to college high school is requesting to increase their enrollment by 25 to of 225 what is the pleasure of the board second I have a motion by misfiled and a second by miss sellers to approve Polk State College's Lakeland gateway to college high school for their request to increase their enrollment by 25 to a total of 225 students is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed like sign and the motion carries six to zero the next one is Polk Avenue Elementary is requesting to increase their enrollment by ten the approved enrollment is for 540 for the 2017-18 school year the school's enrollment was 516 there are open seats at this site and other elementary sites within
048the Lake Wales charter system what is the pleasure of the board move for approval second we have a motion by micellar and a second by Miss fields to approve Polk Avenue Elementary's request to increase their enrollment by 10 seats is there any discussion miss sellers I'm going to approve this even though they had open seats because the charters in Lake Wales are a little different than other charters they really are serving their hometown another charter usually takes in student and if students don't get in they have a home school to go to but in lake wales these were the home schools that have been turned into charter schools so if they don't have a seat for them they have to be many times transported out of town to go to another school so we only
049pay for the kids that are in the seats but I'm not real sure why we limit the seats because as their Charter is different because kids move in in and out just like they do in our regular schools and I want to be assured that the Charter system the elementary system has enough seats and they never turn away a kid because we've artificially limited the seats and I believe what they are doing now is if one schools filled they'll move their overflow to another one of their charters that's my understanding which maybe didn't happen before so I want to be sure that they have plenty of seats to accommodate the kids of Lake Wales thank you miss sellers miss rennolds I just want it and I think your comments just clarified but I just wanted
050to clarify that the recommend that you're moving to approve the number not the recommendation increase thank you miss Reynolds because the recommendation by staff was to deny this request but that is not the motion on the table I'm sorry if I wasn't clear so I will restate that is there any other discussion before I do that before we vote let me restate that the motion on the floor and the second is to approve Polk Avenue Elementary's request to increase their enrollment by 10 students any further discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed like sign motion carries and our last one today is a victory Ridge Academy is requesting to increase their enrollment by 15 to a total of 260 to accommodate the addition of 12th grade
051what is the pleasure of the board second we have a motion by mr. Townsend and a second by Miss Reynolds to approve Victory Ridge Academy's request to increase their enrollment by 15 students 15 seats all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed like sign motion carries okay now it is time for our public hearing so I would like to recess our school board meeting and open up the public hearing at this time I would like to call the public hearing for June 19 2008 een to order the first item is our 82 Polk State College Lakeland gateway to college high school contract renewal is there anyone in the audience that would like to come forward to address this item on our agenda today anybody okay alright so at this time
052board members what is the pleasure of the board I move approval we have a motion by misfiled and a second by miss sellers to approve the Polk State College Lakeland gateway to college high school contract renewal is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed like sign motion carries the next item is our 83 the 2018 2019 exceptional student education policies and procedures is there anyone in the audience that would like to come forward to speak on this item seeing none what is the pleasure of the board move for approval second I have a motion by mr. sellers and a second by mr. Townsend to approve the 2018 2019 exceptional student education policies and procedures is there any discussion all those in favor please signify
053by saying aye aye all those opposed like sign motion carries unanimously the next item is ARF 84 to 2018 2019 student progression plan is there anyone in the audience that would like to come forward to address this item seeing none what is the pleasure of the board move approval of the date second we have a motion by misfiled and a second by Miss Reynolds to approve the 2018 2019 student progression plan is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I all those opposed like sign motion carries the next item is our 85 rezone Gibbon Street Elementary students is there anyone in the audience that would like to come forward to address this item seeing none what is the pleasure of the board second we have a motion by mr.
054Townsend and a second by Miss Reynolds to approve the rezoning of Gibbon Street elementary students is there any discussion mrs. sellers I just want to state that I appreciate the community this this was not an easy decision we've postponed doing it for years as the school declined I want to compliment the superintendent we're going to rezone the elementary school but we're committed to bringing in a preschool and actually making it a priority for all of the preschool students in that area so really it's a win-win as our elementary students the school became such a small size not only was it very expensive to run but it wasn't able to provide the students with all the opportunities of having full-time art teachers and music teachers because the numbers dropped below 200 so I'm very pleased with
055how the community worked with us the community leaders I'm want to compliment our superintendent for working hard to make it a win-win for everybody I'm actually excited about a preschool in that area because now any preschool or many of our preschool programs don't offer we're not allowed to offer transportation that will not be a barrier to any child in that area so thank you and I understand change is hard for people but I know that those kids the schools will welcome the schools that they're going to have have all had plenty of room and I think it will be good for the community and I'm looking forward to giving Street preschool thank you thank you mrs. sellers mrs. fields I had an opportunity to talk to some of the community leaders and some of the
056residents of the Gibbon Street community and and as Miss elder said they were the ones that I spoke we're very supportive and they were very complimentary of Miss Michelle Townley and talked about the great job that she did in presenting and making sure that everyone understood what was actually going to occur so I will be supporting on this this effort thank you mrs. fields so we have a motion and a second we've had our discussion all those in favor of approving the rezoning of Gibbon Street Elementary School please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed like sign and the motion carries and at this time I would like to close the public hearing and reconvene our school board meeting we have one emergency item that was added to our agenda today our Florida School
057Boards Association legislative committee we are-- appoint those our members and our alternates once a year typically in june and so currently mrs. sellers is the member on the legislative committee and I serve as the alternate and this evening I would like to bring before you that Miss Sarah Beth Reynolds has volunteered to be the committee member and mr. Billy Townsend has a graciously agreed to be the alternate so board members I bring that before you what is the pleasure of the board move for approval second I have a motion by mrs. sellers and a second by mr. Harris to approve Sara Beth Reynolds as the FS be a legislative committee member and Billy Townsend as the alternate is there any discussion all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed like
058sign and the motion carries and now we come to our superintendents report mrs. Berg do you have an update for us this evening I do thank you I first like the say congratulations to all of our wills of engagement honorees rules of engagement as a new program that honors outstanding parent volunteers at our law performing schools parent volunteers must complete numerous tasks including attending orientation conferences and school activities Eva Burge is a spook hill elementary one-in-four fusion courtesy of Jared Gordon Ford and $1,000 courtesy of Sooner State Bank the teeth I guard of Bartol middle and Elizabeth Morsi of Kawa Elementary each received $2,000 also courtesy of Center State Bank rules of engagement is a great program that encourages parental engagement thank you to all the parents and sponsors who made this our first year
059a great success now for some great news that I have for our County not sure if everyone actually was able to hear our seed I didn't see a lot of press around it but we're very proud of the work that our district has accomplished for our teachers and our students this year upon the first release of the FSA data a week ago last Thursday pokes should be very proud of the direction we're moving in our ela for FSA data grades 3 to 10 our overall the students maintain and they actually maintain 46% improving from a level 3 from the previous year and it was 46% so they maintained that when a state increased at one percentage point in our math grades 3 to 8 our students improved overall progressing from 50% level 3 or above
060in 2017 to 51% in 2018 again statewide that was an improvement of one percentage point our FSA Algebra one else East our students experience great improvement progressing from 47% level three above in 2017 to 65% level three above in 2018 statewide there was a three percentage point increase our geometry ELC spoke students improve their overall performance progressing from 35% level 3 or above in 2017 to 41% level through above in 2018 statewide there is an increase of 4 percentage point increase our science grade 5 Polk students improve their performance progressing from 44% of students scoring level 3 above in 2017 to 51 percent of the students scoring level 3 above in 2018 statewide there was an increase of 3 percentage points grade 8 science assessment Polk students improve aren't you aren't you glad to hear
061that word improved each time their performance progressing from 40 percent of students scoring level 3 above in 2017 to 42 percent scoring level 3 above in 2018 statewide there's an increase of 2 percentage points our biology Elsie's our students improved their performance progressing from 51 percent of students going level 3 above in 2017 to 58 percent of students scoring level 3 above in 2018 statewide there's a 2 percentage point increase US history yosi's our students improve their performance progressing from 56 percent of the students scoring level 3 above in 2017 to 57 percent of the students scoring level 3 above in 2018 statewide there was an increase of one percentage point our civics ELC Polk students showed a great improvement increasing their performance from 62 percent of students scoring level 3 above in 2017 to
06284 percent of students scoring level 3 above in 28 2018 statewide there's a 2 percentage point increase as you can see the work that we're doing is grabbing hold and our students are doing a phenomenal job we're moving in the right direction and my hats are off and I say thank you to all a pair students teachers and staff for this great accomplishment for 2018 and before I forget mr. Harris you didn't remind me it's a special board meeting will be held at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday July 24th 2018 to advertise the tentative budget and the millage held in the auditorium at 1915 South Florida our next work session will be held at 12:30 on Tuesday July 31st 2018 the superintendent's conference room followed by the school board meeting at 5:00 p.m. in the board
063auditorium that concludes my announcements thank you thank you mrs. Berg and next we have our attorneys report mr. bridges do you have an item for us today yes ma'am thank you madam chair we've had a a flurry of activity and I've been asked to request authority to advertise a number of public hearings for that July 31st board meeting I'll just rattle them off and you can do a single motion for that please ma'am first will be the tentative budget and millage rates public hearing on tentative budget and millett rates to start no earlier than 5 to 1 p.m. on July 31st 2018 next will be public hearing to approve charter school contracts for Edward W Bach Academy north and language and literacy Academy for learning next will be a public same date next will be
064the public hearing to approve changes to the 2018 Code of Student Conduct same date and neck and finally the public hearing to adopt provisions to school board policies also on that date the public hearings would be just scheduled back-to-back on the 31st a little bit fast could you repeat the last two yes ma'am the 2018 2019 yeah - the 2018 Code of Student Conduct there'll be they'll be changes for the new year okay and the last one is the revisions to polk county school board policies that mrs. dodge is I believe already already brought to you all right so here we go we need a motion for the four different items one is to request to advertise the public hearing for the ten of budget and millage rates secondly for the Edward W Bach Academy
065north thirdly for the language and literacy Academy for learning fourth the changes to the 2018 Code of Student Conduct and fifth the revision to the Polk County School Board policies what is the pleasure of the board second we have a moot we have a motion by mr. Harris and a second by Miss Reynolds to approve the I from F for mentioned five items for a public advertisement is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed like sign motion carries thank you madam chair we'll arrange the ads thank you sir appreciate you mr. Bridge yes ma'am next item would be our auditor's report but I don't believe we have a report this evening miss Matthews okay thank you very much next we move to our board
066member reports and I would like to start with mr. Townsend district 1 thank you a couple of things fairly intense worked work session this morning one to kind of catch folks up on that I'll be brief the I will be sending a letter to the state attorney asking him or have to have someone investigate what exactly happened with the k-12 contract or lack of contract that's been circulating around for last month I have not been able to get the kind of detailed account I want to know of what happened the information that I have that has been provided does not allow me to rule out the fact that the former deputy deputy superintendent sought to set up some sort of deal or contract with a firm he then went to work for and there are
067a number of other things if if you want to watch the the the meeting this morning I kind of deep deep detail to stuff I asked the board to join me in that that letter the board declined which is fine I'll write it on my own and we'll see where it goes I'm just I'm just not I'm not sad as satisfied I'm not comfortable comfortable with what's been done there's been very little communication to the board about it and you know I think the public deserves a little better than that so that's that's that part second part relates to the the loonie investigations and and you know I one of the things I've become aware of in my 18 months on the board here is how little power I have a you know the the
068I see the strongest power I have is trying to be as honest as I possibly can to tell to help tell people who do have power what I think of how these things are being done there are to date in the loonie investigation sauce saga that really destroyed any credibility that this institution has and trying to address them the first is August 31st of 2007 is 17 that was during the active investigation of JJ Salone he was actively under investigation for sexual harassment by this institution he called a mandatory faculty meeting Tim Harris our school and we were sitting right there attended it and Tim said this at that meeting I appreciate those of you who were comfortable enough to send those email some of whom I did reply and as a result of those
069emails I felt like it was important for myself and the superintendent to come out and speak with you and show our support and support of mr. Looney this is while he's actively under investigation the people in that room were witnesses unfortunately the superintendent could not be here she has a very important family issue she's out of the office for several days to keep her in your prayers please I personally have gone through situations in my career and I was with the school district for thirty-one years before I ran for school board where I had a supervisor either let's just say had a different paradigm from mine I finally got to the point where I could handle the different paradigm because I decided myself and that supervisor were going we're always going to disagree we just
070had a totally different philosophy of life when I finally got to those mental positions with those three separate supervisors I was able to deal with it a lot better and accept their differences from mine it made me looking for another job a lot easier mentally that was under an active and investigation imagine put yourself as a teacher in that setting and imagine how you would have felt that that meeting has never been invested in invest investigated it's not part of the investigation patience it's been ignored I've raised it probably four or five times in in in meetings all I've ever asked is for us to take that serious serious seriously unfortunately this organization I've shown it doesn't take that meeting seriously that meeting destroyed everything that came at after I have tried everything I can
071think of quietly openly to try to get a real honest third-party review of it and I failed because I am NOT that power/power powerful no secondly there's a second date which destroys our credit credibility with the looneys that's May 4th 2018 of this year there's a teacher named Juanita McCoy who's an african-american teenager who worked herself up from being a para she has sort of an ongoing dispute with laquida Looney at almost exactly the same at the same time that the Jayson Looney investigations at ten Iraq were occurring she was prosecuted like the Queen of Loony called the police on on on on her she was prosecuted and on May 4th a year later that all charges against her were dropped however prior to that we suspended her for five days without pay really without
072due process we transferred her forcibly out of the school on charges that were dropped I have sense you know I asked where is the HR investigation that justified this and I was sent the police report we I have since listened to that police report like these statements they don't match what the police reports said I've listened to every one of them I would encourage all of you I had them if any you guys want to listen to them I will bring them to your houses you know this is a question of power and how we're gonna address power I I think I have a record I've been around for a long time in public and a little bit of good I've been able to do has been able to try to stand up a little
073bit for people who don't have any power I want you to think about wanting a wedding McCoy's powerlessness as she was transferred without due process without an HR investigation I want you to think about the powerless people listening to Tim say that he supported a guy who was actively under investigation based on their witness accounts I make no apologies for making a for making this a thing I really don't I my my conscience it's clear I respect everybody in this room but I have an oath I have a compass I won't be part of this I won't for the sake of being liked say that it's okay and I think that anybody who comes up here and and and I know I'm about to get fusses dad so I welcome it you know I love
074you guys i I I want you as you fuss at me think about if you can say you would prove of what I just said if if you can say Billy we approve of how of how Jason Looney had handled that we approve of how the district has handled this you should say it because I don't I'm gonna tell you right now I don't I have no confidence in him I have no confidence in this institutions relationship with him or his wife because their issues go back to 2010 at least they were the subject of an investigation together in 2010 at George Jenkins which no one on this board except me I think has bothered to read I had begged I have begged people to read that and and investigate altima Lee I'm at your
075mercy you know I I this is the the board doesn't have any interest in this they've made this clear for a year I have tried the the superintendent and Wes said they were gonna do a review based on what I asked for which was to come up with reforms how we how we could keep this from happening again they just ignored me they they they they they never even bothered to tell me they had changed their mind they said yes we're gonna do it and then I found out six months later that apparently he's been reappointed no one even bothered to communicate to me who cares about me I'm unimportant the public is important I I and and and this is a deep insult to the public it's a deep insult to the people who
076work for us and that's that's what I want to want to say I'm sorry thank you thank you madam chair um first of all I attended my last legislative committee meeting they are interesting I'm teasing because I have enjoyed the work what is going to happen this year is that they're trying to get the legislative platform out sooner so if you want to put anything on the platform and I've got papers for everybody that gives you the information they needed to be submitted by July 27th of next month and just remember the only difference between doing items did everyone get one is that when you does everybody have them okay when you submit an item it looks slightly different from our own platform because sometimes we have items that are specifically for our district you
077have to remember the state platform has to be unified as far as the items on the state platform have to be for the entire state one of the things we might address the DCD because we're low in the DC D as a district but the state can't do that because in the DC D there's winners and losers so we have to avoid those kind of items for the state platform wendy dodge is a wonderful help if there's something that you want to submit I urge you to get her help she gets it written properly and gets it to the state so if there's anything that you want on the legislative platform attached to the items you'll see what's already on the 2018 platform anything on that you don't have to resubmit they're already going to
078be addressed so I've enjoyed it Sarabeth you will enjoy the meetings I promise you it's interesting it's interesting to work with all of the issues that are important when you work on the state you work for those issues that are important to the entire state and one other person I want to mention this evening I know joy Meyers has left us to go on to another endeavor I want to thank her immensely I in my early years I had the privilege of being on the insurance committee learned more about insurance than I ever imagined I would know joy Meyers has saved this district millions I believe we talked about it today that and I can't say the word it's the lab fees she do to her effort and her working with Florida blue I believe
079and I think we saw a figure of a million dollars a year that's Julie Myers quietly she's humble she's a hard worker she has done but our health clinics she single-handedly worked to put those together so she just needs to be recognized she's not here this evening but I no the rest of you are with me in appreciating the hard work the good work she did for our district for years I wish her the best and she will be missed and that concludes my report this evening thank you I just want to first start off by saying we haven't had a meeting since graduations happen but first thanking all of our school administration's because every graduation rent seamlessly and that is a hundred percent because of our principles and guidance counselor's so I just want
080to thank them for how smoothly all of our graduations went it's really nice when it goes quickly so those of the you that kept it under an hour and 15 minutes it was extremely impressive not gonna lie so thank you also I just want to welcome mr. Hill who got my name right today so we're doing really good but we're so excited to have you and I'm glad that you're you're getting into everything so we appreciate you and that's my report thank you thank you mr. Cunningham I just wanted to remind everyone that dr. Gill Mackenzie who was our first appointed superintendent passed away on May the 24th and she was a phenomenal woman and she did a great work while she was here is our first appointed superintendent and her celebration of life would
081be in Denton Texas on July the 7th at 1:30 in the afternoon and there would be many of us are going from the school district to pay honor to an amazing woman I wanted to make everyone aware of that I also wanted to come in miss miss Jackie and her team and all of the hard-working employees of the school district fund an amazing school year we finished strong and we look forward to what we will be able to to witness in the new school year I also wanted to thank joy Myers as Miss Ella said for all the amazing job that she's done in her position and she will be missed and we would show the best as well thank you Thank You miss fields mr. Harris a couple of readings I'd like to do
082tonight but I also like to offer my congratulations to joy Myers she was a great benefit to this district and saddened to lose her first thing I'd like to share and direct you to the board policy you can find it online go to the staff pay excuse me not the staff page the community page I believe it is and drop down to board policies and click on that and you can look through the rules by which this board has set up this district by and some of those relate to the board itself specifically the first section is called bylaws and I would like to read a portion of one called standards for boards Manship in its policy 0 1 2 3 if you would like to look it up it goes from a to P
083I'm not gonna read all of those to you you can read those on your own but I would like to share a couple of them with you as a member of the school board each school board member shall promote the best interest of the school district as a whole and to that end each board member shall adhere to the following educational and ethical standards f out of that list says hold confidential all matters pertaining to the educational system that may needlessly harm individuals are the system and respect the confidentiality of information that is privileged and H in that policy work with the superintendent neither undermining nor intruding into the areas legally assigned to the school administration another thing I would like to share with you this evening society any society goes through change and you
084can kind of see that change on a continuum that I've heard referred to as ot a PE o tape object tolerate accept participate enjoy object ot a PE tolerate accept participate and enjoy just think about any change that occurs and we go through that mental process and that physical process to get from objecting to something to enjoying that in light of mr. Townsend's reading tonight of the proclamation I would like to share something else the other side of the story if you will homosexuality is a hot button button issue in the world today from the issues surrounding gay marriage to the activism and gay pride parades all around it's clear that it won't just go away unfortunately due to these issues tensions have grown between the homosexual community and the Christian community and it's sad
085to say that many Christians have not just disagreed with the gay lifestyle but have VLE attacked and mocked them in an ungodly way while it is true that the Bible speaks against homosexuality it is also speaks against the mistreatment of others in fact the Bible promotes a selfless love that while not tolerating sin will be able to confront people in an approach in a in an appropriate and godly way that's it's vitally important that all people go to the scriptures to clear up any confusion regarding homosexuality so here are seven Bible verses about homosexuality first Corinthians 6 9 through 11 or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who practice homosexuality nor thieves nor
086the greedy nor drunkards nor revelers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God and such were some of you but you were washed you were sanctified and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the spirit of our God Romans 1 26 through 28 for this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions for their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done mark 10 6 through 9 but from
087the beginning of creation God made them male and female therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh so they are no longer two but one flesh what therefore God has joined together let not man separate 1st Timothy 1 10 and 11 the sexually immoral men who practice homosexuality in slavers Liars perjurers and who whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the Blessed God with which I have been entrusted Leviticus 20:13 if a man lies with a man with a male as with a woman both of them have committed an abomination they shall surely be put to death their blood is upon them Leviticus 18:22 you shall not lie with a male as
088with a woman it is an abomination and the last one Genesis 9 1 through 5 the two angels came to Sodom and in the evening and lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom and when lot saw them he rose to the meet them and bowed himself with his face to earth and said my Lords please turn aside to your servants house and spend the night and wash your feet then you may rise up early and go on your way they said no we will spend the night in the town square but he pressed them strongly so they turned aside to him and entered his house and they he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread and they ate but before they lay down the men of the city the men of Sodom on
089both young and old all the people to the last man surrounded the house and they call it a lot where the man who came to you tonight bring them out to us that we may know them in conclusion although homosexuality is a big issue in today's world people can learn a lot if they only dive into the scriptures yes the Scriptures do list homosexuality is a sin however everyone must realize that there are many other sins as well including those committed by heterosexual people a homosexual is no more a sinner than the guy on the girl who have casual sex together it's good for Christians to be concerned about how much sex homosexuality but not to the point where they are pinpointing that one sin and placing it above all others Christians must reach out
090to homosexuals in a non aggressive way as Jesus would they must be completely loving and truly care about the person they need Jesus as much as anyone else does thank you man thank you mr. Harris and now I have a few items for my report we celebrated our Hall of Fame and our honor graduate banquet a few weeks back and I'm very excited it's one of the nicest events that I believe our school district puts on it's where our valedictorians and salutatorians from every school come to a banquet and get to meet all of the folks who have been inducted in the Polk County Schools Hall of Fame so it's a place that I call where the past meets the present and it gives these young people a chance to see what some of the
091people that have left our school district and graduated from our schools what they have gone on to accomplish sometimes you need that in life's journey when things get you down and I just think it's a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the past with the present and I would just like to congratulate once again commander Terry Chauncey mrs. Joyce Connolly Simmons the Honorable Hubert Grimes and mr. Joel L Thomas for being our inductees this past May so congratulations and we look forward to next year's wonderful event I too want to say a few words about miss Myers very quickly she was a wonderful human being that worked very hard for our school district I can single-handedly tell you that we would not have the wonderful health clinics both in Haines City and in Lakeland if it wasn't
092for miss Myers she did an incredible job opening that those up for our employees and for most of you that used them I don't know how many here in this room let me just see a show of hands how many people that work for us have used the employee health clinic Haines City or Lakeland okay most of the room so we can thank her for that so yes I too want to wish miss Myers the very best as she moves on to a new season of life and I just thank her so much for the time and talent that she gave to open those clinics up for our employees and last but not least every year I always say as we go off to relaxation and and fun in the summer parents don't forget we
093have the most amazing library cooperative in the world all of our libraries and Polk County are tied together if your child needs a book then they can't find it at your local one they can order it from one of the other libraries in one of our adjacent cities so there's absolutely no excuse get your kids books to read over the summer it is probably the most important thing that we can do just get them five ten whatever however many books and let them enjoy it and take advantage of that library cooperative because we're very blessed to have that in Polk County you