001for April 28th. And we will have the uh pledge led by uh our general c our board counsel, Mr. Holmes. And then we will have the uh invocation led by the illustrious Reverend Carl flag. Please stand. >> Join me in the pledge, please. I pledge >> aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Let us bow our heads and reverence our hearts to almighty God. Father, we come in the name of your son Jesus to call upon your most holy and righteous name. For Lord, we have so much to be thankful for. >> Yes. Even in the midst of the trials and tribulations, our struggles and troubles, situations and circumstances, you are sovereign.
002>> Yes. >> And I pray for the wisdom of this, our school board, our superintendent, our council. I pray, heavenly father, for counselors. I pray for principles and all of administrative and even supportive staff. Heavenly Father, we need you. We need your guidance. We need your comfort in the tough decision-making hours. We need to discern and we need our students and parents uh to be on board so that we are with one accord so that we can prosper so that we can stand up in this bowing down hour. For you are great and greatly to be praised and we pray Lord for the overall well-being of our school district. We know the importance of education. We appreciate the importance of a good education. And we pray right now that even in the midst of and
003in spite of all that we have gone through that we are more than conquerors. We are overcomers. And we just pray now that our district will soar like eagles, march like soldiers, and be a shining example for many other school districts. Bless us and refresh us, renew us and restore us, and keep us most of all in the center of your will. and we will continue in the midst of it all to give you praise, glory, and honor. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. >> Amen. Amen. Thank you. >> Thank you, Reverend Flag, and thank you for being here. Always good to see you. All right, board. We'll move to our presentations. And the first one is our retirey recognition. And Miss Whitehurst, you are recognized. Good afternoon board. We are >> here today
004to recognize um a couple of our um dedicated employees who has made the decision to retire. Um and I want to start out with Miss Darlene Evans. I'm not sure. Is she okay? I'm still going to um just give you some information about her. Uh from Putnham. We only had the privilege of having her with us for 5 years, but she served over 30 years in public education in Elatchua, Clay, Bradford, and then um with us. And she has most recently she is a teacher at Melrose Elementary. Um but that would be Miss Darlene Evans, and we will get this to her. And then our second um teacher that we want to recognize today is Miss Amy Lob James. I don't think I saw her come in either. >> Where is >> Okay. Um Miss
005uh Miss Amy has been with us for over 25 years and she will be going out at the end of May and stepping into retirement. Next, we will have our recognition of our welding instructors and air gas. Miss Huff, you're recognized. >> Good afternoon, board. >> Good afternoon. >> We have a special little presentation and some recognition for our welding instructors, and I'd like to turn it over to Amanda Bernie, and we will be um introducing our guests. We have Miss Bernie. >> Good afternoon. >> I would like our welding instructors if they'd come up. >> We actually have several recognitions today, but all of them revolve around our welding programs. Um, as you may know, welding is in high demand in today's job market due to a massive aging workforce nearing retirement and accelerating
006infrastructure projects. With over 400,000 professionals predicted to be needed by 2025, so last year, that number may be higher. Skilled welders are critical for manufacturing, aerospace, energy, and construction, offering high job stability, competitive pay, and opportunities to work with advanced technology. Welding is also considered one of the most recessionresistant trades with need in the workplace rarely fluctuating. And we are keeping up with this need. We have thriving welding programs at Crescent City Junior Senior High School, Palaca Junior Senior High School, and Interlock Junior Senior High School. And we would like to give some special recognition to those teachers who live, breathe, and manage those programs for us. Um, Levi Bennett Bennett, a Crescent City alumni, is our teacher that has manned the welding program at Plaque High for around 10 years. Um, and they have
007been a product of 10 years. In that time, his students have earned over 250 certifications. Wow. He is truly dedicated to his craft. As his principal, Dr. Michael Chair said of him, "Levi is a tremendous asset to our school. He works tirelessly to help our students learn and achieve. He has also dedicated countless hours during the summer to help our students learn more about welding and fine-tuning their craft. Welding is a very popular program at Pla Junior Senior High School and it is because of Mr. Bennett and the positive impact that he has on our students. Levi has also been a wonderful mentor to our two other instructors throughout the years. Tad Delo is a 1996 IHS graduate, Interlockan High School graduate who returned to the school as a teacher around eight years ago and
008he has also had great success and built the program into what it is today. Tad's students have earned nearly a 100 certifications since he has been the instructor. His principal, Amber Simon, said, "Tad is always willing to pitch in wherever he is needed. He built our graduation stage and can fix anything that is broken. He often cooks and coaches on top of being an awesome welding teacher and role model. And last, but certainly not least, Terry, our youngest teacher, is a powerhouse. Terry, a 2010 graduate of Crescent City High School. I love that they've all come back to work for us. Um, was also a welding program completer student while he was there in Crescent City. Um, he has also racked up nearly 250 student certifications since he became an instructor in 2020 school year.
009Students love Terry and his program. Mr. Adams, Terry's principal said, "Our welding program is extremely successful. Because of him, his relationships with our students along with his ability to provide high impact instruction. He inspires our students and provides the best on the spot feedback that we have ever seen. Every year our welding classes are full with a waiting list due to his creativity and connections. We love that he's a Raider. >> I encourage each of you if you have the chance, go visit these programs. See the work they do in their classrooms. See the relationships they have with students and watch how they model work ethic, leadership, and problem solving. We are so incredibly blessed to have such amazing men in these classes. And we wanted to make sure you knew all about the good
010work that they do each day in our CTE classrooms. Awesome. >> Yes. >> Come on in, ladies. >> Great. Great. Great. Finally, um we wanted to take today to recognize one of our significant business partnerships over the last four years with Air Gas. About four years ago, I happened to be at the right place at the right time at a conference in a van full of other CTE related educators. And a man in the van said, "Hey everybody, don't forget to apply for Air Gases scholarships for high school welding programs. Email me and I will connect you with Andy at Air Gas. I emailed him immediately and by the next morning I had a Zoom with Air Gas. Turns out that date was the deadline to apply. We met for almost an hour and completed
011an application for each of our welding programs. The rest, as they say, is history. We ended up winning $10,000 worth of products for each program. And to top it off, we have applied and won again each year since, including this year, which we just found out we got. making their contribution to our programs over the $100,000 mark. >> Wow. >> They have they have supplied through this award everything from personal protective equipment to grinders to consumables to big ticket items like air compressors and lots of things. I don't know how they work or what they're called. In addition, they invite our teachers each year to come to their training facility and try out the latest equipment and get real world professional development from the industry. They have truly been amazing and we've been so blessed
012by this partnership that we wanted to recognize them for their contributions. Today we have Scott Carter and Will Kreb. If you guys will come up. Scott is the air gas account manager for the south division and Will is air gas welding process specialist for the south region. These men take time out of their busy schedules to meet with our teachers, listen to their needs and provide them with products needed to make their classes run smoothly. We would like to recognize them and present them with this plaque as a thank you for their continued support um and service to our programs. >> Awesome. Where's >> I'm around here. tell you the best you guys. >> Very good. That's a lot of money. >> Hey, I just want to mention that um each of those classes have
013some young ladies in them >> doing a great job. So, >> girls can >> some of them are the best welders, >> I bet. >> Oh, yeah. Girls can too. >> A lot neater welders. Anyway, >> okay board, we'll move to our last presentation uh from Feed the Need, our friends, good friends, Miss Stacy Isold and Denise Braramlet. Please come up and be recognized. Yep. And missing that. >> Members, >> good afternoon board. We appreciate y'all allowing us to have time to recognize our shining stars in our program. So, for those that don't know, um, Avette Jones is our newest board member and Renee Huff is a long long-standing board member. Stacy eyes is our community lison. And we don't need to introduce Feed the Need. Everybody's familiar with us. We want to introduce our
014shining stars and those are our pantry workers and volunteers that do the job from the schools that we can't do. Our mission would not exist if it wasn't for these 13 schools, these people that spend their time, a lot of them volunteering their time and a lot of hours each week packing bags to send home on Friday. So Stacy's going to announce our people that came and we appreciate y'all allowing us to come. >> Thank you. There might be a few that um RSVPd that didn't make it. So I apologize if I say their name and they're not here, but Lisa Deal from James A. Long Elementary. >> Odell Ford from James A. Long Elementary, Alicia Whiteill from Kelly Smith Elementary. Fran Howell from Melon Learning Center. Angela O. Kelly from Middleton Bernie Elementary. Terry
015Dallas from Browning Pierce Elementary. I'm trying to go slower for you. Carrie Offford from Mosley Elementary. See her? I don't I don't think she came. Teresa Gibbs from Mosley Elementary. Diane Williams from Aquilla Elementary. Tiffany Stoofer from Aquilla Elementary. Lesie Smith from Interlockan Junior Senior High School. and Melissa Whittington from Interlockan Junior Senior High School. Miss Michelle Parnell from Palaka Junior Senior High School. Bessie Davis from Qi Roberts Junior Senior High School. And I don't know if Mr. Walker made it yet. Oh, Mr. Chef Aaron Walker from Interlockan Junior Senior High School. He runs the culinary arts program. Gwen Taylor from Putnham Academy of Arts and Sciences. Sorry if I say this wrong. Melissa Poda from Putnham Academy of Arts and Sciences and Candy Riley from Putnham Academy of Arts and Sciences. Thank you all
016so much for all of your hard work. Oops. Is >> that all that? Yeah. I would like to say that between the 13 schools we are serving 800 students every weekend and our schools vary from 25 kids to 150 kids. Fran, how many kids are in your program? >> 147 kids. She packs bags every weekend. Uh Crescent City, Middleton Bernie, what are your kid numbers at? >> 74. They were our largest in the past, but you know, they spend a lot of time and we're very proud. Chef is our newest addition in the last two years. He has 200 culinary arts students that come through his program every day. And uh Stacy and volunteers, they literally go get food rescue every Thursday. And that's meat, poultry, and produce. And he comes faithfully every week to
017pick up. He's teaching the students um you utilizing food rescue and we never know what we're going to get. So he's very creative. He's teaching them not only to cook, prep, freeze, and from what I understand, he's allowing them, they're making individual meals if they need meals to go home with them. So we're very proud of that partnership and he has 200 students that we send food home weekly, too. So we're very proud of that. So I want to say thank you to everybody and your hard work. That's the chick. >> We can just all stand up. >> Yeah, we'll stand up. >> Why don't we all just stand up? >> Everybody stand up. Yeah. >> Good idea. >> School, sir. You're fine. You're fine. >> Thank you all very much. >> Well, we're in
018just Okay, board. We will uh go to our public comment. And um just for anybody that's going to speak, you're allowed three minutes to speak. Um the board may or may not ask questions and um probably won't comment. No. >> Um but uh when when I call your name, please come up uh give your name and your address for the record. So, we will start with Staff Sergeant Brian. Brian, thank you, sir, for your service. And come on up. You're recognized. >> Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. My name is Staff Sergeant Brian Rojo Sargetta. I'm the United States Marine Corps recruiter for Putham County and only Putham County. My address is at 111 Florida9 Palaka, Florida 32177. I'm here today because I wanted to meet you all, get to know the Putham County School District,
019meet the board members, and let y'all know that the Marines are here ready to assist and provide educational and career opportunities for the young men and women of Putnham County School District. The reason I wanted to come out here and do that is because it's very rare that I get to meet you all, see you all, and get to learn you all, and get to see what you're all about, your goals, your mindsets, and what you want to see in the future out of Putnham County. And that's why I have a few questions that I'd like to ask you all. Not looking for immediate answers right now or anything, but just some questions to how myself as the Marine Corps recruiter and how the Marine Corps as a whole can help enhance our young men
020and women to be successful and achieve their dreams, their goals, and to basically have a better life than where they came from. Because ultimately, that's what I want to see is the young men and women create a better life for themselves than where they came from. And that's all. So, with that, the questions I have for y'all is when it comes to the vocational um careers and whatnot, how can we help you enhance these students to be able to go to vocational schools or technical schools, you know, and alleviate the burdens that they're going to see, some of them financial, some of them, and things like that. How can we enhance the interest to the educators who want to go and attend the educators workshop that we host on a regular basis going to Paris
021Island, South Carolina, getting to see firsthand what young men and women go through to earn the title of United States Marine. And not only that, the transformation they go through from that regular young junior senior coming out of school to a young United States Marine now ready to take on the world and earn earn the pride in service every single day. Not only that, earning the benefits of service after four years or after 20 years, whatever they decide. Additionally, how can we collaborate to host a signing day? The same thing that schools do when kids sign to go to college for sports or academics. How can we go about hosting a signing day for these young men and women to be recognized on hey they have raised their right hand to render honorable service to
022their country whether it's the Marines or the Navy or the Army or the Air Force or the Space Force or so on. All right. How can we further enhance getting into the schools? Letting the letting the students know that we are here ready to assist and aid you in building your future, you know, for you to achieve your goals, whether it's through things like a class talk or being able to take the students out to a physical fitness challenge or being able to pull them out of class or anything like that without disrupting, you know, their curriculum and whatnot. And then lastly, how can we be able to let the students know that we are here to assist them? We are here to aid them in their education and their success. And that is it.
023We are not here to, you know, aid in our own personal gains or whatnot. We're not here to meet certain numbers or whatever the case is. We are here for them. We want to see them be successful. We want them to have a goal. We want them to achieve it. and we want them to ultimately be successful with that. Those are the questions that I have for y'all. And if you don't have anything for me, I thank you for letting me stand here and talk to y'all. Okay. >> Thank you, Sergeant. Appreciate your comments and uh the staff will be getting back in touch with you. >> Yes, sir. I appreciate you knowing my rank. Were you in the Marine Corps? >> No, my dad was career military. He was Navy. >> I won't tell
024you what he said about you Marines, but that's okay. I I do I do speak to a former graduate that's a Marine and stationed in Diego Garcia right now, but I I'm not going to go into detail, but uh we do have some young people that go on and see the world and hopefully keep us safe and learn skills at the same time. So, thank you for what you do. >> Thank you for your service. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. >> Yes. >> Okay, board. Our our next speaker is uh Miss Margaret Ellington. Miss Ellington, if you would come forward and be recognized. Give your name and address for the record, please. >> Good evening. Good evening. Uh, my name is Margaret Ellington and I live at 310 East Par Street, Palaca, Florida. I
025like that's what the staff sergeant said about wanting to see them succeed. I like that. >> Okay. Good evening. Um I'm here today uh because I'm I'm a concerned citizen of Putnham County regarding the treatment of our young school age children. I am deeply concerned and honestly shocked when I see law enforcement come on campus handcuffing and arresting our children there. These are young children, not hardened criminals. When we subject our children to the trauma of police arrests in the school settings, we are creating fear rather than foster a safe learning environment. I believe this approach causes long-term emotional harm and drives a wedge between our communities, youth, and the professionals meant to protect them. I am asking this board, I don't know if you have something in place or not and not trying to
026criticize anybody or whatever, but is that what we do? Um, things happen on campus uh that we call the police, the law enforcement officer and arrest our kids. I know this last incident, it looked bad. The video looked bad, but I thought it was I think the media printed some wrong information. They didn't get the right information. And I might be wrong. I don't know. But I would like to know, I don't know if it's personal information or not. If the kids were suspended from school, uh what is going to happen is is it working that you have them they arrested, their pictures are printed all over the Facebook, and it was some awful things said about the kids from grown people, you know, adults. And uh I think that that really harms them more
027than anything else. And if we can get something else in place uh I would appreciate it. I had a classmate get in touch with me from California. He saw it and he was disturbed about what was happening with our kids. And I don't know if we have any volunteers, volunteer programs in the school system, but he has this thing our watchdog dads and he sent me a link uh in case anybody want to look at it or whatever. But that's all I wanted to say. I just wanted to say that we we need to listen to our listen to our kids. I know we said well we adults and their children. We need to listen to them too. And I think that that last incident that happened, it was printed out in the media that
028the children was wild animals. And uh but I think they was protecting somebody. You all probably know more than I do about it. But I hope that in the future we can get something changed on that. Some one day something bad going to happen. You call law enforcement all the time. I think something bad going to happen. I hope it don't. Thank you. I didn't know I had three minutes, but thank you. But thank you for listening and I hope that we can get that change. Okay. >> Joseph Buts, >> yes, he sent you that. He sent it to me as well. >> Yes. >> And I appreciate him in California being >> Thank you for your comments. Okay. Uh we will now move to um Mr. Carl Mezer. Please come up and state your
029name and address for the record and be recognized, sir. Good afternoon. Thanks for allowing me to come back and stand before you. My name is Reverend Carl Mezer. My address is 674 State Road 26 Melrose, Florida. I stand before you this evening not as a political activist, but as a father, a grandfather, and also as a shepherd of souls that loves and cares for the well-being of children and young people of this community. I'm here this evening to ask you to reject the e dynamics hope variation curriculum and my reason for that is as follows. For example, in unit one lesson three on mental health students are shown two heads and here is the picture. Uh one the healthy mind is depicted with the rainbow colored brain and the unhealthy mind is on the opposite
030side. You know, I just we know what the rainbow stands for. It's the LGBTQ plus community. And understand this is not a first grade curriculum with the rainbow and the blue sky in the background. This is a 9th through 12th grade health education class teaching sex ed. There's no question what this rainbow stands for. Okay? Um and if people want to live that lifestyle, that's okay. But it don't need to be taught and promoted in the public schools. That's where I'm going. You know, I find it personally as a pastor appalling that this symbol um would represent the healthy mind in the textbooks. Okay? And the text beneath it says, "Good mental health means being able to think, feel, and react in ways that help you live your life the way you want." In other
031words, regardless of your faith or the moral values that you regard as sacred, regardless of the parents teachings and directives, it's okay to toss those things out the window and live your life the way as it says you want without any moral standards. Remember that is the picture of the rainbow colored healthy mind. Respectfully, this is not health education. This is ideological formation. It subtly teaches our children that affirming certain lifestyles and desires equals mental wellbeing. I'm here to tell you as a pastor who counsels broken families and struggling youth, I can tell you this message is dangerous. It contradicts biology. It contradicts and undermines the biblical moral foundations that this nation was built on. And it contradicts the abstinence forward standards that Florida law actually requires. Also, in unit five, lesson two, the curriculum
032links students directly to a PBS video titled, "Where does the nuclear family come from?" Go watch it. That 8-minute video is a flatout assault on the biblical nuclear family made up of a biological male and a biological female along with their children. Sorry, my three minutes are over. I could go on and on. That's just a brief summary. I urge you to make the right decision to reject this curriculum. >> Thank you for your comments. All right, our next speaker is uh Miss Marsha Mezer. Please come up and be recognized. >> Good afternoon. My name is Marcia Mezer, 674 State Road 26. And for the past six years, I have served as a child and parent advocate, deeply researching radicalized curricula being pushed into American classrooms. And today, I speak to you not out of
033anger, but out of fierce love for children and the Lord. After reviewing and commenting at our previous meeting that everyone should watch on YouTube, by the way, all you all know I stand opposed to Pearson's Eynamics Hope Variation materials. Hopefully, you read the email that I sent to you all yesterday, available through public records. Uh, what I found should alarm every parent in this county. In unit one, lesson three on mental health, students are shown the graphic that Carl just showed to everyone. The healthy mind contains the bright rainbow, just as he went over very well. But that sentence beneath in the fine print, good mental health doesn't mean being happy all the time. But it does mean being able to think, feel, and react in ways that help you live your life the way
034you want. Again, this is not health education. It's deliberate ideological grooming. After six years studying these patterns, I recognize this tactic immediately. Normalize rainbow symbolism and subjective my truth autonomy as the path to mental well-being. In unit 5, lesson two, the influence of the home, the video that uh Pastor Carl just uh referenced. Um this video openly questions why America elevates the two parent nuclear family and treats others um as as equally valid. And as a pastor's wife who counsels families regularly, I can tell you this is not neutral. And it is an attack on the very foundation God designed for raising healthy children. And in unit 5 activity 1, students are required to create a podcast defining their personal culture with prompts that include religion, race, and nationality while simultaneously measuring and reporting their
035own biometrics. A required health class is being turned into a data collection and identity politics exercise here. These are not isolated slips. They are the predictable fruit of Pearson's DEI driven curriculum development. And after six years of study, I have seen this pattern repeated across the country. Sexualize, destabilize the family, and collect personal data on children, all under the banner of mental health. Board members, Florida law gives you the clear authority and the moral responsibility to choose better. I'm not sure about human kinetics. It's also on the list of the three um approved curricula, but since it is a static textbook, I'd say the committee needs to reconsider and present other options after conferring with the state, as will we. I plead with you as a mother, a pastor's wife, and a child advocate, do
036not hand our sons and daughters over to this curriculum. Reject Eynamics. Protect the hearts, minds, and innocence of Putnham County's children. I also want to leave this with you each of you members. This shows what uh sex education for abstinence looks like versus what comprehensive sex education looks like and you can keep that for your future reference. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. >> Thank you. >> I don't know if it's okay. Our last speaker is uh Mr. Tim Hotailing. Uh Tim, come on up and be recognized, please. Tim Hotelling 105 Riverside Way San Mateo just uh short and quick. Um on your agenda K2 is a refund request again and I'd only say that um you all have been hearing multiple sides of the same story, multiple sides of the same argument.
037And I think it's only fair that you consider to bring in the auditors, the auditors andor auditor general and have them explain why they still feel that their position is the the best position is factual cuz you got this side, that side, and the other side. And and I don't know how you can handle that uh decision without full knowledge. That's all. And one thanks to the young lady that brought up. I was really looking forward to hearing uh under conversation. Uh what's happened with uh all of the youth that got out and started having a brawl and and uh it sets real hard on me if if you do suspend somebody that can be uh a terrible negative for the rest. But what do you do? That's and anyhow that's all. >> Thank you
038Tim. >> Thanks. >> Okay board that concludes our public comments and so we will move to the consent agenda and Miss Pickkins I will start with you. >> I don't have anything to pull. >> Mr. Buckles. >> I've had most of my questions answered today so I'm good. >> Miss Gilliard. >> Pulling methods. Sir, >> Miss Wagner. >> I uh I have nothing to pull. Actually, all mine were answered as well. and Miss France spent much needed time with me and got me all straightened out. So, I don't have anything to pull. The chair will entertain a motion for the uh balance the all of the consent agenda. >> Mr. Chairman, I make a motion that we approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Second. >> All right. I have a motion and a second.
039All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Motion carries unanimously. >> All right, board. We'll move into our uh emergency I'll adjourn the regular meeting meeting move into emergency session and we'll take up item I1 the uh PHS PJSHs boys weightlifting trip and I'll entertain a motion. >> Mr. Chair, I move that we accept uh the approval of the overnight trip for Palaka Junior Senior High School state weightlifting team. >> I'll second that, Mr. Chairman. >> All right. I have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Motion carries unanimously. Same thing for the Crescent City boys. >> Mr. Chair, I'll offer a motion that we accept the overnight trip for Crescent City Junior Senior High School boys weightlifting. >> Second. >> All right. I have
040a motion in a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> Motion carries unanimously. All right, board. We'll move to our new our new business and um we will start with um our instructional materials plan. Um and Mr. France or you or Mrs. Zula? >> Mrs. Zula, please come forward and be recognized. >> Good afternoon board. >> Good afternoon. So before I begin, I'm hoping that you'll allow me to take just a moment to recognize the group that attended and provided feedback at the April 15th public feedback hearing for hope and Spanish one and Spanish 2. Several PCSD staff members met with representatives from the group on that afternoon along with the board member Linda Wagner on Monday, April 20th for a little over two hours. During that meeting, we were able to share
041some additional information through multiple statutes and documents. These included the following Florida's graduation requirements, including the state requirement of one credit of physical education to include the integration of health. the C. Palms course description of hope which you all have access to for our version of the hope course which is the hope with PE variation 150 6320 which includes specific statements regarding adherence to Florida statute 10003.46 and 103.42. It's also important to note that in that C palms course description, they also outline the one curriculum currently approved by FDOE for this course, which is the E dynamic hope physical education variation 1A and 1B, our committee's primary recommendation. The CPOM's course benchmarks for 1506320 including a complete list of the 100 plus benchmarks required by DOE and their clarifications was provided and discussed. Statute 10003.46
042which covers the additional requirements for health education which includes the statement the department of education must approve any materials used for instruction under the subsection subsection and statute 10003.42 42 which is the required instructional elements including the statement in 1B that reads all materials used to teach reproductive health or any disease including HIV/ AIDS its symptoms development and treatment as part of the courses referenced um in subsection 5 must be approved by the department of education. The initial short bid list from the FDOE instructional materials website was also provided which included both the e dynamics curriculum and the ETR associates curriculum for this specific version of the course. It is really important to understand that there are multiple variations of this particular course um included in sepalms. The as of April 9th approved list from
043FDOE instructional materials website which also includes only the e dynamics curriculum for this particular course. And we also shared a document that shows all of the courses for which e dynamics is approved in Florida. There are more than 30 courses representing areas like CTE, visual arts, and ELA in which this same curriculum provider has been approved. Finally, we reached out to E Dynamics and shared the link from the hearing and the two assignments mentioned at the feedback hearing, which were also mentioned here today. And they provided detailed responses for each of those two submissions. The first the image that was discussed earlier with the rainbows and the storm over the heads came from unit one which is titled healthy defined and it came from lesson three within that introductory unit um called mental health. There
044were two images. You've seen those today. Under the picture there is the statement good mental health doesn't mean being happy all the time but it does mean being able to think, feel, and react in ways that help you live your life the way that you want. The response from the rep included this. These courses do not promote specific theories or perspectives beyond what is required to meet state standards. Instead, this course focuses on helping students understand health concepts to make informed decisions. The WHO defines mental health as a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. It's also important to note that for both of
045the assignments, they were able to provide us a list of benchmarks that were directly directly listed in sepalms as benchmarks required by the course. I know we had some conversation during the hearing that day about culture and what culture means. And when we dug into the standards, we were able to see exactly what the state defines by that standard as well as the three clarifications contained underneath of it. At this time, the IM plan with the review committee recommendations you will vote on today has been altered to remove one of the selections. It has been altered to remove the currently nonapproved alternate selection from the committee which was the ETR for the hope with PE variation course. All other recommendations remain the same including e dynamics hope physical education 1A and 1B and approved FDOE
046curriculum selection. And with that I would turn it back to the board for the vote unless you have questions of me. you have board have any questions >> some >> go ahead just some statements maybe if nothing else and maybe some questions in here um first of all as stated I I attended the meeting and it was um so much more than I expected and I was it just you were absolutely amazing with the information that you provided um it took a day or two for it to to sort of seep in because it was there was a lot there is a lot but you convey it So, well, I I always enjoy your presentations um and and your openness to have questions. Um that being said, this has been a a struggle for me
047on this particular issue because I did look into much of what she had sent to us um and including the PBS uh video, which if the person on that video spoke any quicker, I mean, I had to re rewind it. It was only seven minutes and the woman talked so fast. I don't know that anybody'd get anything out of it to begin with. But um but the points that Miss Mezer, well, both messers have have brought up, they concern me as well. I don't have children in the system right now, that's irrelevant. I'm in this society and it's very important to me what is what is being provided to these children. And while some of it is not I'd say most of what we discussed um and what's been brought up it a lot of
048it is not outrageous to a point it's not and it almost scares me more because it's not because it is subtle and I don't like subtle any kind of indoctrination in in any way coming in. It's just not the place for it with our children. And I appreciate the mezzkers coming in such good faith and and uh in being so respectful in um you know a touchy subject for some. Um I did review a lot of this myself though and it it made me very concerned as well. But then I also had some conversations with district staff uh more recently and it feels as though and tell me if I'm wrong that and and I know you provided some um some alternatives >> but what I'm hearing from the district is it's not really an
049alternative because some of the at least one of those options and and I just got some of this today. one of those options would require teachers to have an entirely different um degree and we don't have any currently that could even teach it. >> And so that is one um you know barrier for us to to use one of those options. um one of the others which I believe was um utilizing some of Florida virtual curriculum um would actually cost a good amount of money. Um and I don't have those figures or any of that, but that it it sounded like it may be cost prohibitive. So I I'm really on the fence on this because I agree. I don't I don't like a lot of what's in here. Um, and yet we're being I'm
050being told basically we don't have a choice. The state of Florida has given us one choice, which I think is ridiculous. So I I I feel like we don't have a choice and we have to approve something so we have a curriculum in place. But I am I will say, you know, I'll I'll I'll keep in touch with you and I think the state needs to know about this and Yeah. And so um I may be contacting you with more on that too because it it is important when we don't get to even do this again for what five years. Mhm. >> So, you know, if we make >> if this is a if there is something bad >> being presented to our children, a the state is not giving us a choice. Um not
051a a a reasonable choice if we have to send people back to college to teach something else or right. So, it's really disturbing to me and and I think the state needs to be aware of this and if somebody else has brought it up and then we bring it up again, then maybe it'll catch their attention. But it's it's problematic. So, uh, but I appreciate the information that you gave me. I I'm much better educated on the the topic now and I think that's going to help maybe in going forward and contacting the state and seeing what can be done to provide the schools a better choice or or more choices to fit the various districts >> and Mrs. France did, excuse me, explain that to us when we met with her regarding uh the
052ones that were certified are not the ones that are actually going to be teaching uh the subject. And I did ask her uh is there any way at all that out of this curriculum that the uh department of education is saying that we must teach. Is there any way that any that our teachers that will be presenting this subject matter can uh together some of these areas that are that are touchy that that that really >> Mhm. seems as if they may sway our children to to you know it's just it's hard for me to to put it in in to verbalize it but but I do know that I I I feel like uh we don't want anything that will have an effect on our children's sublennial learning or teaching or anything like that
053and you mentioned there was one that was move removed >> yes >> a chapter from >> No. Oh, okay. One of the options was removed because it did not >> meet the guidelines of what Florida thought that we should be teaching. Um, it is it is a a very concerning one that where we just can't make a decision just you've done your due diligence. I mean, you have thoroughly vetted, looked at it, and then it looks like the state of Florida is saying we we have to do something, >> you know, if not from Mrs. France information in the meeting, this will put us back a year with our adoption in the meantime, should that happen. I'm just saying just should that happen, what are we using now? What what what are our instructors using?
054We are using um pieces of um egeneuity, >> okay, >> that we have cobbled together because that is also or was an approved >> um >> uh it's an approved material from the past. It's not on the list currently because it is a ver it's a um it's a it's part of an LMS that we use. So, we've been pulling pieces of that together that we submitted to the state to meet some of these health mandate pieces. was submitted that like maybe three years ago. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Because I we since I've been in this position, we have not purchased any materials for um the hotels. >> Yes, ma'am. >> And I will add, you asked one thing in that that I do want to come back to and it was about the ability
055to get teachers together to determine which activities or assignments they may um we'll call it hide from the curriculum. There is not a capability to do that at the district level, meaning our access does not give us the ability to go in and tailor that for a teacher. But a teacher can certainly tailor the access. They cannot add to the curriculum, but they can choose to hide an assignment because they picked a better they picked a different one that they felt like met their needs a little bit better. So there is the ability within the platform for a teacher to be able to hide specific assignments and activities. Now the text for the unit is the text for the unit and the first image that we saw is part of the text for the unit.
056So I do want to be clear about that. But the other assignment um the podcast piece that was one option in a number of options and the rep did say that at the teacher level we could hide options that we did not want to have available for students. So, remember that last time I was here, we talked about the YAG process and that we will pull teachers together and we work to pace out a course and lay out what are the big things that we need to make sure we use within the curriculum because all curriculum even when it is tightly aligned um you find that there are lots of options for activities, learning activities to reach different modalities and things. So that is not unusual and it would not be unusual for us to
057pull together a group of teachers at the beginning of the year to say let's take a look let's set a pace let's make a pacing guide together we want you to contribute to this yag as well what parts are we going to keep on what parts do we need to turn off as long as we are still attentive to making sure that the benchmarks in the course are still appropriately covered for student mastery. We do have some flexibility at the teacher level for the course. >> And so this will happen at all of our schools. >> The in other words, what I'm hiding at Palaka High will be what Crescent City because we've met and interlock and we've all agreed that this we we we opt not to do the podcast or whatever. >> Typically
058what we do with other subject areas, they come together with us um at the district annex. We pull together all at once. So that way you don't have school A doing one thing, school B doing something else. >> We come together and we have these conversations. And we do this really with all subject areas. If you look on our website under teaching and learning, you can see not every single course, but most of at least the core and the assessed courses. You can find our YAGs public um publicly shared right there. And we create those through a process that's very collaborative. teachers give us feedback all year long, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And um and it's wonderful because it helps us continue to refine even beyond year one of a curriculum. So
059there is the possibility of that, Miss Gilliard, and I wanted to make sure that the whole board was aware that that is that is possibility. >> Mr. Buck, do you have any other comments? uh just given knowing the governor like I do. I mean and we all know Governor DeSantis, I I don't think he would intentionally or even lightly suggest that something be filtered out to the schools to be selected throughout the state of Florida and narrowed down. Were it not for the picture of the rainbow, you could rip the page out and be done with it and move on. I I I mean I've gotten to where I understand how the subversion works and subliminal advertising and messaging to students and given the history of where we've come for the last 10 or 15
060years. You you see that parents are it's their worst nightmare. But I I think if if we're down to the the state recommended list and we're down to the final selection that I'm I would be in favor of just saying we go ahead and go with what the the state people who have under the guidance of the governor of the state of Florida and his educational staff has recommended because I know they're not in favor of some kind of subliminal transphobic or crazy different type stuff that that could be construed in a really bad manner or would teach kids bad stuff. I mean, I like all of us educators, we've done enough talking to the boys and talking to the girls over the years as they come of age and we understand, you know, the
061questions and the the way things get out of hand sometimes when they want to know things. But I I don't you know state recommended the governor is over the the state department of education and the people that do this. I I don't like anything that looks bad or sends a flag that you might not be and whoever approved the thing with the rainbow probably laughed and said, you know, somebody's going to complain about this. But that's that's it for me. >> All right, Miss Miss Pickkins. I just I just have a question. If in the event um we we did choose this curriculum and then um people talk to the state, maybe even teachers that are that teach it and see, you know, this this activity is not something I want to do and report
062it to the state. >> Then the um we've purchased the material. So could um Pearson um then say take off those so it doesn't we don't have to buy a whole new curriculum again. >> So I don't think that we have the ability to do that. I know that the state does do that as part of their approval process. Um, if you'll remember at the hearing, or maybe it was the meeting right before the hearing, we talked about the math adoption a few years ago and the state had already approved several of those, but then some laws and statutes were passed, right? And then they had to kind of go back to the drawing board in the middle of an adoption process. and they did very much give companies that feedback and say you're no
063longer on the approved list until you do these things and it's up to you if you want to continue to be a part of our process. You you can or you cannot, right? Thankfully, our publishers all committed to making the revisions and doing that piece. um and then we're approved. But it is that is something that happens at the state level if something comes up from one of the expert reviewers as an area for concern. >> And I'd also like to say that when I see a rainbow, I think of God promising there's not going to be a flood. I I don't see the other. So that's not my automatic response anyway. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. Any other comments from the board? Any questions? All right. Uh, the chair will entertain a motion
064on K one. >> Mr. Chairman, I move we approve K1. >> All right. Do I have a second? >> I'll second it for discussion. >> All right. >> And I'll wait for discussion. >> We have a motion and a second. Discussion. >> Yes. My my discussion would would be the definite getting together with the teachers that will be instructing this lesson and hide those things that that we perceive as being uh a way to sway or persuade. uh and and I guess your committee and the teachers that will instruct it and I don't know um if the meters will be a part of that but it's I understand because we don't have anything to choose from but at least thank God we have the opportunity for those things that do send up a flag or
065may cause us some concern. So at at that point in time when we get into YAG creation, we don't typically have others join in that that those are typically the um the instructional supporters and then the teachers of the course who were the review committee. >> And just for clarity sake um I want to make sure that I'm hearing you correctly. You want me to pull the team together for yag creation and discussion, but we are not clearly telling them that you must hide these specific things. Right. What I thought I heard you say first was we come together for discussion about this and then if the teachers teaching the course were all in agreement that there were portions that were these are the portions we'd rather not put in front of kids at that
066point we hide them. Is that correct? >> Right. Okay. where they discuss it and and say as a as a district this will be hidden. This will not be a part of the noatter. >> That's me now. This is just my >> talking. Could have possib >> Miss Pickkins and then Miss Wagner. >> Sorry, you were probably in front of me. Um I have two things. Could there be a board member part of that committee? Just an observer? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Linda, since you did the first part, would you serve? >> Sure. Sure. >> And I just wanted um I just wanted to be clear though, too, because to to balance what we're saying here, you said the district cannot say we we're going to hide this or we're going to hide that. We
067can't tell the teachers what they're going to hide. Is that correct? >> So, we can't physically go in and hide it from them. they when they get access to their curriculum, they're going to see it all. >> But the but the district, >> but we would facilitate the conversation with them about some of the concerns that have occurred as what I'm envisioning. Okay. >> And then have them discuss is this something that we feel like is critical to this benchmark or is there another activity that can meet the same need that is already contained here. However, >> at that point, >> well intended, there's going to be a student that's going to raise their hand and they're going to ask stuff that kind of go off track or there's going to be a teacher that
068goes out on their own and they're going to do something >> then we need to just recognize that right now. I mean, >> sure, but I just let you know. >> I think the point is not to to start off sanctioning things that that we don't feel is appropriate. And I think a lot of it does come down to at whatever age it doesn't matter appropriateness of teaching that in a public school system >> and we trust them to look at it. >> Miss Pickkins, you have additional comments. >> I just have a a question. Um, so how long will the the ability to review the course still be available on the on the website? because yes, I have reviewed it, but have I read every single line in there? No, I haven't. >> Yes,
069ma'am. That's a good question. And it's usually publishers decide that. Okay. >> We have some who've left it open the whole entire length of the adoption just so that we have a public way of being able to access it at any point, but others I have to reach back to. I they won't tell me that they've turned the link off and I find out because of wonderful folks who let me know. and then I have to go to them and either ask for it to be turned back on, in which case they typically do or they'll say, "No, we're already engaging in another adoption process. We don't have the public links available anymore." So that really is kind of dependent on the publisher. And I apologize, I don't know the rules around that if they
070if they really have to hold them open for five years or not, but I'll find out. And if the state says we can't do anything we're doing, you need to bring it back to us to I guess look at and help you out with. >> Okay. All right. So, um I've been quiet on this issue because I I'm um the educators on the board certainly have ample amount of experience and number of years working with curriculums and everything. But I do want to uh reiterate the very salient point that Mr. Buckles said. If you look at the what the governor's done over the last year and the legislature, um it's just overwhelming how strictly they have fashioned legislation so it stays away from a lot of the right-wing issues that we all face and we
071all see on TV every day. um almost to the point where, you know, 60 or 70 bills filed on these things during session. In fact, I was in our meeting before the the board meeting discussing it with with the staff and uh you know, I said, I'm just it's it's mindboggling to me as a former lobbyist because by far the largest number of bills filed are on education policy. >> Yeah. um in in the entire legislative session. So, um I I'm going to support this today because I do think that we do have some some safeguards set up and that we're we are going to be looking at this and working it in maybe a little different fashion. Um and um you know, I think you've done an excellent job explaining. The last thing I'll
072say is that, you know, we do need to meet with our Senator Leak and his staff and and Representative Sa Sap and his staff and make them aware of this, especially Senator Leak who's, you know, really involved in education policy. um so that we can make sure that they don't end up doing what they did with the voucher system and the chaos that's caused with that that they do with these pro with these curriculum programs. So, and I'll stop there. >> Well, that's where it's headed. You're right. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Board. Um I have a motion and a second. Uh any more discussion or comment? Seeing none, uh all in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Likewise. Um, okay. Motion carries unanimously. All right. Thank you, Mr. Zuba and Miss France.
073Very good job. All right. We will now move to K2. And before we disc start any discussion, the superintendent is going to read a statement for the record. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. And um in your board docs, you do have a letter from Mr. Bowling as well as a letter from myself that was supplied at the last board meeting. But I I want to add an additional comment. Uh board members, I'm asking for your approval to reimburse $5,55647 to Thomas Boeing for funds he personally paid to resolve the amount cited in our 2025 operational audit. This situation was addressed quickly and responsibly, and most importantly, it was corrected without delay or disruption to district operations. Mr. Bowling stepped forward in good faith to ensure the matter was handled promptly, demonstrating accountability and commitment to
074protecting the integrity of this organization. This re the reimbursement request is not about excusing an issue. It's about recognizing that the district ultimately bears responsibility for operational findings and that the corrective action has already been taken. Approving this reimbursement reinforces our values of fairness, professionalism, and organizational accountability. It also sends a clear message that when individuals act in the best interest of the district to resolve issues, we stand behind them. I respectfully ask for your support. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. All right, board. Um, we will open it up for uh any questions of the staff. We all saw the uh the presentation Miss Whitehurst made at at our board workshop and a lot of discussion. Any questions of Miss Whitehurst before we move to to board comment? Okay, I'll I'll start
075with you, Miss Pickkins. >> Um on the FDLE, they were highlighted in brown. Correct. It was like a tan color. Tanya, you want to come up and >> Yeah, please come up so everybody can hear you. FDLE had four that they had. um highlighted they they did not do the one where there was um a discrepancy due to a valet. So they did not >> okay >> consider that one and that was the difference in the total that I had of of the def with definitive evidence and theirs was the 6 I don't have that one right in front of me that whatever their amount was but it was it was the four that had the um toll receipts not the valet um parking where it had the the truck had been valeted. >> So
076that that was the difference in what I had on my um sheet and what FDLE had. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right, Mr. Buckles. >> Um >> questions. Well, I'm not I don't really suppose I have a lot of questions. I' I've been through this. I uh I wish the young man would have just stayed with us and not have left and did what it you know and separated, but uh and and just let this whole thing work itself out. But I'm a little different than everybody else because when the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates and rules on an item or something that I've done or you've done or anybody does, I I don't usually quibble about it unless I've got an attorney that's trying to fight back into and make something out
077of it. uh you know I I didn't see the need for going into paying money to hire a private investigator. FDLE came out with a with a finding and it is what it is and I don't have a problem. You know, I've never I've never always liked what I've seen when the Florida Department of Law Enforcement finds out uh information and and what whatever this situation is, but I usually respect exactly what they do. Uh and I I don't I could certainly quibble and say it it isn't relevant, but to me it's relevant. uh that took a lot of skin and a lot of time to investigate and do what they did and and I'm I'm ready to pass on up or down whatever you guys do. >> Okay. And just for clarification for me
078uh before I make my vote, Mr. Bolan paid back what he assumed he owed to the district. And then after the investigation, it was determined that they could only validate, for lack of a better term, validate that it was 800 plus dollars. And so then at that point is when Mr. Bowlan asked that after they've done their job that I be reimbursed. The difference am I clear? Just help me to understand. Is that when the request for the the the refund the balance of what was what was owed and then what his request is based on the travel vouchers that FDLE pointed out in their report which there were four >> and the total from those four was $64253. Those were the four that had toll like the pictures of the toll. So that that
079was the evidence that went with that. >> Yes, ma'am. >> They did not take into consider. They did not include the fifth one which in as I was looking at it there was a valet that had been verified that the district vehicle was valeted for a trip. So that if you add that fifth one in, that's where the 800 >> 15 comes from DLE was 642 $64253. That's the amount that Mr. Bowling used for his request because that's what he had. That was the the official documentation that he had. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you. >> Okay. Sorry. I just want to be clear because you're saying about his request, but he's requesting everything that he paid except for that >> except for the $64253. Yes. >> The remaining amount that he's wanting to be reimbursed
080for are items that are simply the remaining items that you cannot without a shadow of doubt prove were wrong. >> The $6 or $800 is the ones you know for sure were wrong. Those are the ones that we have definitive. Okay. >> There's documentation that definitively show that the district vehicle was used. >> Right. And the rest we just don't know. >> Correct. >> And so he's wanting to be reimbursed for the stuff we don't know. >> There's >> we don't have >> right. Fuel records would indicate possibilities, but there's no definitive documentation on it. >> And and just as a I guess this wouldn't be a question exactly, so um >> Go ahead. But if I can just make a a comment or two. Um I realize that you know Mr. Buckles is saying
081when FDLE investigates you know sort of who are we to question but from a legal perspective FDLE is entirely to me this is just my approach. FDLE is one approach to it and that was to see if there was criminal intent. It didn't. They were not tasked, as far as I'm concerned, and I think our our council sort of explained this last time, they were not tasked with finding out if anything was done wrong or not done wrong. They were tasked with finding out if there was criminal intent behind what happened and they found that there it didn't rise to that level. So, you know, so there was no criminal intent. That does not mean that things were not done wrongly. And in fact, the auditors have been very clear that things were done improperly.
082um whether that was by by lack of oversight or anything else, but you know, I I have I have issues with like at the last meeting it was brought up that we should the first thing that y'all did at the beginning was you hired an outside um independent uh company to investigate this. when he resigned or retired, they were let go because from from what it was told me to me there was nothing to investigate. I think there is something to investigate. Even then there was, but certainly now if we're going to be giving the money back if you if we can have somebody investigate it and tell us, yep, this was, you know, absolutely either complete accident or it was I mean, I can't see it being an accident. It's there's signatures. I mean,
083there there is some accountability somewhere. I but without there I can't I cannot vote to to reimburse without there being some kind of a independent look at this for clarification from from the HR standpoint the external investigation that was going to be coming in we were I was working with a a firm that would have been for discipline employee discipline which they would have gone through all of the records records to determine if any employee discipline needed to happen. When the employee is no longer here, I can't do employee discipline. So, that is what stopped that outside investigation because it was strictly about going through everything that I had already gone through, but they were going to have an outside look so that there was no it would be completely objective, no subjectivity to it
084at all for a discipline. So to to determine were there policies, were there procedures that had been violated and what discipline needed to take place if any. That was the outside agency that was going to do that when he left. I can't discipline someone who is not an employee. and and that that's understandable and but again I think I think a lot of people have been misled by the FDLE >> report because they they literally said um no criminal wrongdoing was identified no I'm sorry it was uh from the auditors they said you know no criminal wrongdoing was in that port of the audit only potential violations of schoolboard policy So there are two completely separate things here that could could have been there could have been criminal intent which apparently with FDLE they said
085there wasn't any. There's also violations of school board policy which the auditors said occurred. Mhm. >> So if the auditors have said there were violations of our policy that have occurred, I'm I'm that's where I'm drawing a line kind of how can we just give him the money back when they're saying violations occurred. Now they it's been suggested I think in in speakers that have come in um that why don't we get the auditors to come give a presentation about their findings? I don't, you know, can we get something in here? But but there was a lot that happened with this and and Mr. Buckles, I agree with you. I don't like these things dragging on. It's not good for the board or our community, but we weren't continuing to nothing was going on with
086this until this request. So, we do have to address it now. And I'm just my position is I'm not comfortable um approving it without at least some sort of outside investigation. >> Well, and I don't like paying somebody to come in 5 $10,000 to try to find out if we, you know, go all back through this again. And I just either vote it up or down and be done. >> Well, I'm >> Well, we we're going to Here's what we'll do. I'm going to read a um correspondence uh into the record. I think it clarifies very clearly exactly what Miss Wagner was saying and what Mr. Buckles was saying that you know there is a dichotomy between FDLE and the state auditor generals. This is a an email actually uh sent to Mr. Tim Hotailing
087that he copied the board and and uh the our board attorney on and Mr. Attorney if you have any after I finish reading this if you want to make any comments please do. This is um an email on behalf of State Representative Chase Treymont, who's the committee chair um written by Miss Kathy Debose, the coordinator of the joint legislative auditing committee. They ultimately have responsibility for all auditing of education, school districts across the board. And uh and then the final word ultimately comes from um them if it if it reaches that. and it looks like it it probably will. So here here's the state here's the correspondence related to the improper embburments made to the former associate superintendent. We find that the auditor general acted appropriately during the audit and in response to FDLE's investigation.
088The associate superintendent terminated his employment and repaid the questioned travel reimbursements totaling $6,199. The FDLE concluded that no evidence was developed during the investigation to in establish criminal intent on the part of the associate superintendent and that discrepancies appear to stem from deficiencies in district controls documentation monitoring uh processes as noted in the auditor general's operational report um and that have been subsequently addressed and this is my comments by the staff and and now have new procedures in place. Um the state attorney's office concurred that the facts did not support criminal prosecution and the case was closed without further action. Subsequent to the FDLE investigation and state attorney's office closure of the case, Putnham County School District staff informed the auditor general's office that the former associate superintendent requested the district reimburse him. The investigation
089did not establish any evidence of criminal intent as it did not. As of this date, we are unaware of any action taken by the district to reimburse any funds. Note, while the investigation did not establish any evidence of criminal intent, in our opinion, this does not legitimize the erroneously paid reimbursement claims. Um, so that's I read that into the record in case there's maybe further legal action um down the road. Mr. Attorney, do you have any comments? >> I have no generic comment. I'll answer any question that I that I can if uh it's >> any questions for board attorney. >> I I have a question. Um so we we have accepted our responsibility as a district and made um revisions in our policies and the way we're handling things. Um so we acknowledge that
090part of this is district pol was district policy or procedure. Um, but so who's who's a liable person? If we say um, and I'm struggling with this, if we say that that payment was made because we didn't have, are we held accountable or is the person that receives the payment held account? If the person did not utilize their personal vehicle which would have justified reimbursement, then they're accountable for having taken reimbursement and using the district vehicle. The reimbursement would only be due if they used their personal vehicle. So if they used the district vehicle and did not use their personal vehicle but accepted reimbursement, then the fact that we might have had lacks policies that allowed them to get by with that would not make us responsible. Now, I'm not in a position to say
091whether or not the person that is used the district vehicle and then received reimbursement as if he had used the his personal vehicle. I don't know. Um, we we discussed the information and as I think I commented at the last meeting and I'll stand by my comment, the information that Miss Whitehurst provided was the most informative in terms of the specific charges that I've seen. There may be more information out there. The auditor may have it. Somebody else may have it. I don't know. But but but her the information she provided was the most informative that I've seen where she went back and tried to compare the fueling of the vehicle and the dates when the vehicles were fueled the district vehicle that m was assigned to Mr. Bowl Bowling was fueled compared to the
092times that were on the travel reimbursement forms. Right. and her comparison was the most informative as I said that I've seen because I didn't see and I'm not arguing one way or the other. You're I'm trying to I'm trying to objectively respond to your your question which is I simply don't know whether all those reimbursements were inappropriate. I I don't I don't have uh information that would support it one way or or the other. I think the assumption is um that all that everything he was paid was inappropriate, that he did not deserve, for lack of a better term, anything that he was paid. Um I don't have information to support or or reject that assumption. I think Miss uh Whitehurst came up with a number of additional charges that she felt were um probables,
093for lack of a better term. Um where the district vehicle had been fueled at a time frame that which would have corresponded roughly with the times when the reimbursement forms said that he used his private vehicle. There were four or five of those. a few. There was a >> there was there were a few there were just as many that were not >> correct. So there were four or five of those. But um but but that's the most information that I've seen. Now of course um the FDLE relied upon more specific evidence i.e. toll uh I mean yeah toll pictures pictures pictures at toll booths showing that the district ve vehicle was being utilized and yet a claim for reimbursement was being submitted for as if he had used a personal vehicle. So if he
094used the district vehicle and accepted the reimbursement check then even if we had lax policies that allowed that to fly by he did not earn that money so to speak. I simply am not in a position to say whether or not he did use the district vehicle and accept reimbursement on any but the five or six that FDLE um four or five that FDLE highlight highlighted and I think that if I understood Miss Whitehurst there were four that FDLE matched with toll records photographs and then there was an additional one where the event valet service showed showed that Mr. Bowling's district vehicle had been valeted. So, his his vehicle was there um at and it was and the valet parked the vehicle, but he claimed reimbursement as if he had used his personal vehicle on
095that fifth uh occasion. So, um that I just that's >> yeah, I just have one more thing and then and then we'll continue with board discussion. You know, my biggest concern is that um when somebody resigns that that's a de facto admission of guilt. My question is and I'd love to have these answered. I you know as far as what it's going to cost may you know Mr. Mr. Buckles makes a valid point. You spend $10,000 finding out whether we owed somebody $5,000 doesn't make a lot of sense. But as I discussed in the workshop, from June 24th, 2023 to May 26 of 2025, over 2,300 gallons was pumped at a cost of $6,759. And there were two months of records missing. So that, you know, I'd like to know who the other person was
096staying at the thousand night hotel. Was, you know, was it a staff member, you know, family member or whatever. You know, our policy certainly, you know, does not allow for that unless the the employee pays for that. Um there just so many unanswered questions and I think there's you know we've just seen the tip of the iceberg and and I'm like um Miss Wagner I I could never support reimbursement without a significant amount of answer questions being answered that I have. >> All right. Any other comment from the board questions? Uh the only thing would be Mr. homes if we don't if we don't take the FDLE recommendation or their their whatever they say. I mean, I think in past practice, the district has usually when FDLE sends them a notice on an employee and
097we've dealt with it, we took it serious and we did something, but we have the we have the autonomy to just say, "We don't care if you said that. we're going to hire somebody else and we'll >> I I don't think FDLE offered an opinion on whether or not they had >> whether or not he was he deserved all the reimbursements. They offered an opinion upon whether or not they could establish criminal intent. So, I I really don't believe there was an opinion offered as to whether or not those remaining charges were legitimate or not in the FDLE report. >> Well, go ahead. Go ahead. Well, the the fact that the auditor general even after the FDLE, they they are standing by their their claims. I I would like to know >> what makes them
098feel so sure to to do this. What what makes them so sure? I don't I don't understand. like and and we can't ask them that. I mean, >> well, I think Tanya's asked several different probably hundreds of questions, but the thing is, are you going to hire somebody to do this or can we just I just listen to what you said and I've heard what two of the board members said. It doesn't take a a mathematician to figure out that this thing could just be up or down real quick and we can move on to the schools that the kids cut the ribbon on this morning and things like that. But all right, uh, go ahead, M. Yard. one of the statements that you read uh suggested that >> and and and correct me if
099I'm wrong that we have someone here from did it say the auditor general's office or uh the no the person in that sent the was from she is the coordinator for the state um joint legislative auditing committee that's legis just that's members from both the House and Senate that serve on that legislative auditing committee and they handle everything dealing with audits and finances for >> and they are the ones that actually did this one for us is what I'm asking. So >> no, the the auditor general works under the state legislative auditing committee and they have the final say on things if you know there's but what there what she's saying here is that again there while their investigation did not establish any evidence of criminal intent in our opinion this does not legitimize the
100erroneously paid reimbursement claims and you know um they have their auditing um guidelines lines are all all auditors were CPAs and so you know they they go through what they're required to do by law and by statute and by administrative rule. Um and so you know that to me having worked with this committee on with clients on other issues you know when they make that finding it's it's in my opinion is pretty solid. But all right Miss Pick >> I have another question. Um the the 2,300 gallons of gas and the missing two months. Is that is that done was the missing paperwork on every district vehicle? Like we just we just lost that or is it was it only >> only on this one that that that the auditors had because they were only
101investigating this one? >> Oh, so so so on this particular vehicle, >> correct? There were 6,00 $6,759. >> Correct. >> All right. I think Mr. Buckles is right. I think that most of us have our position. So, the chair is going to ask for a motion. >> Um, motion to up or down. They just say, uh, how would you word that, Mr. Attorney? Well, I think that the in before you is to reimburse reimbursement >> the amount of uh was it $5,500. >> Mr. Chairman, I make a a motion that the board uh approve the motion for reimbursement based on the FDLE findings that we received. >> Okay, that's item K2. All right. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by
102saying I. I >> I. >> All All opposed. I >> I. >> All right. Motion fails. >> Good deal. >> Okay. >> That's how it works. >> All right. We will now move to our uh safety uh report, district safety and compliance report. Mr. Weaver. >> Thank you. So um this past quarter that uh would have extended through from January through March um the office of safe schools did not conduct any audits for our district. So therefore we had 0% of our schools audited in that time frame. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> That was short short and sweet. >> Short and sweet. All right. We'll um go to our uh board reports and uh Miss Wagner, I'll start with you. >> All righty. Um well, we did enjoy uh a wonderful start to
103the day this morning at the FACA Intermediate School ribbon cutting ceremony. Um it was really uh gosh, it's it's just beautiful and I can't wait for parents and kids to be able to take advantage of that coming up. Um it's just absolutely stunning to walk through the halls. So, that was a a great start to the day. Um, I just wanted to give a shout out to a couple things that were on the agenda today. The driver's ed, uh, we had talked about that a few weeks ago. Glad to see that. And the ROC, um, contract, I learned a lot about, uh, just that that whole uh, memorandum of understanding was very informational on that to me. Um just a reminder to folks uh if you do use the clinic um you get a an
104email typically that is asking for your feedback. Please please please give them feedback because it's really critical in making decisions. Um we have a lot of ability to um make changes and whether it's the hours or um staff. So, please give us your feedback um with those emails. It's really important. And uh I did want to say uh congratulations to Amy Lob James. I know she um is is retiring. I've known her for well you you know just like when you're in in Crescent City, you know everybody forever, but um I remember when she was going to school to get her degree and then began working at Melrose Elementary. It's been 30 years, I guess. Uh, so I was I didn't know she was re retiring till I got here today and I just hope
105everything goes well for her. Um, other than that, I'm looking forward to a month of craziness with uh graduations and and awards ceremonies and just everybody be safe as you're coming and going to all of those. >> All right, Miss Gillyard. >> Yes, sir. Um just want to commend the committee uh for the top scholars awards night and the Palaca Daily News coverage of those students. The booklet is a treasure and uh Mrs. France made and a concerted effort to make sure that those kids hang on to those things because it it it is and it was great that their speaker was a former top scholar. It just made it so real for the kids that yes, it starts here. Well, it actually started before there, but you can even come back and serve. And
106she's uh a practicing dentist in in the area. So, that was great. Uh just want to commend all of the uh uh civic organizations that support our schools, the sororities, the fraternities. Uh I said all that to say to the Rotary Club. uh I look forward to reading the recognition of the scholar athletes uh and the award that's given to them. So we thank you as board members for doing that for our students. And then in our agenda, the fight uh flight sim expo where four of our instructors are going, I think in Minnesota, I think it is. And they're going to be trained for several days so that they can come back and finish uh doing a great job with our future pilots here in Putnham County. And then too, as Mrs. Wagner mentioned,
107the ribbon cutting. The the most enjoyable part of that was when the superintendent interviewed a couple of the students that were there cutting the ribbon. Uh they were just excited about this new school and then to Air Gas for uh recognizing our welders and supporting our CTE programs and then of course feed the need with Miss Bramblelet and the number of families and students they touch with the foods that they give and to just want to make a pitch for them. They didn't. But to those of us that can and and will uh it can be deducted from our um >> yes checks through finance. So if you are thinking about a a great place to support our charitable organization, Feed the Need would be one. Most definitely. I'm done. U Mr. Chair, >> Mr.
108Bubbles, >> uh you've probably heard enough from me today. I I just enjoyed the ribbon cutting ceremony this morning. was wonderful uh to see the great things that are going on in the school and hear the great things. And I look on social media and I see around the state where some of the districts are having some really really tough problems related to the auditor general and some of the audits they're giving in the district. Bless their hearts. I mean, we're talking tens of millions of dollars in districts all throughout the state of Florida. And uh I don't know how they're going to keep up with it, but I do I applaud the board for let's putting this issue behind us today and moving forward because something else will come up on the horizon that
109we don't expect at some point in the future and we need to concentrate on it. And that concludes my uh >> Okay, Miss Pickkins. Um the the top scholar uh event was great really from where our perspective we get to see the seniors as they come onto the stage and um to see them look up at the video. We can't really see that but the their expression on their faces is priceless when they see themselves on the big screen. Um the ribbon cutting was, you know, really good and and um Miss Wagner and I snuck in behind the tour and kind of watched um the kids' reaction to different rooms in the the new school. It's it's a beautiful place. And um they were most excited when they saw the gym. I'm just going to
110say that. >> And um wow was what I heard. Um, and congratulations to the weightlifterss at Crescent City Junior Senior High School and at Palaca Junior Senior High who are going to compete in the state um weightlifting championship um on the way uh to the ribbon cutting. No, coming back. No, that was coming back into PLC. I've been back and forth today. Um I was truly dismayed. Now, it was early release today, but the the light was flashing very evidently on 17 in front of Browning Pierce. And I think I was the only car that I saw that obeyed the 20 m an hour. Just totally people just blew right by it at 55, not even slowing down. Um, so that may be something that our our um sheriff's department could look uh into. And
111um it did warm my heart to see Leviticus, I don't know him as Levi, Leviticus Bennett, um and Terry Medic Bell, both former students to receive, you know, recognition of jobs well done. And I know that welding is an extremely popular program um at Crescent City Junior Senior High School. Um, I would just like to say that we've had very difficult votes in the last eight years and today was one of those. >> Thank you. Okay. I just have a few things. I I'll start with saying, you know, in my comments this morning for the ribbon cutting, I I specifically singled out the superintendent and Miss Gillard and Miss Miss Pickkins and Mr. Buckles. um the vision that they had and the courage that they showed in getting us from probably almost seven years ago
112to today to that ribbon cutting is is phenomenal and and something that they will long be remembered for. And um you know it's I'm personally affected because I'm going to have two go two granddaughters that'll be in fourth grade next year and and others to to follow. And uh I agree the school is just amazing. um you know tying that into our top scholars um you know I think that exponentially that those schools are going to impact our students in such a positive way that that the the top scholars is going to continue to grow and and I'm just amazed every year at at what these kids are doing today and the educations that they're receiving and the colleges that they're getting accepted into. Mhm. >> Um the brought you know the other question and
113the other issue is um you know the incidents that have occurred at at the high school in the last month and a half or whatever. Um, you know, I think that it's important to understand how much is put on our administrators and our staff at at these high schools and the fact that they can't be everywhere and do everything. And that's why we have resource officers and and you know, others that specifically um, you know, are there to try to assure that those things don't happen. And um but it seems that it's getting there's some momentum. I have been talking to several people that have approached me about us doing a very similar thing to what we did on the Highway 100 safety issue and and hopefully it won't kind of drop off like it
114has on that. But, you know, maybe looking at a a community task force um to deal with with some of this violence and and um you know, because it's not anything that the schools can do. This is coming from the home and the lack of parental oversight and the lack of, you know, and this the the significant almost 90% in some cases of single parent homes. you know, we've got to change the paradigm. And I think we as a board need to take the lead in doing that. That we cannot keep falling back and and saying, you know, well, the staff's got to do more. We've got to do that. That's not a that's not an option. The staff is doing absolutely everything they can and doing a phenomenal job. And and honestly, you know,
115like I said, I see it almost every day. So that that's something I'd like the board to think about and maybe we we discuss it and I'm I'm going to follow up conversations with the superintendent on that and um you know I mean because you know it's like the superintendent said in the paper he says you know we've got to have a partnership with parents and parents have got to take responsibility to the point where I think uh the parent should be criminally charged if if their student is you know in in those situ situations because they're not getting the training and you know the the the respect that that that they need to teach at home and um and so that that is something that's really uh caused me a lot of sleepless nights
116in the in the last month. Um and I I would like to re-evaluate, you know, with our resource officers and and maybe meet with the sheriff's department. Uh you know, we're paying $1.2 2 million a year for resource officers and um I know they can't be where everywhere and do everything. Um but maybe we work with the sheriff's office and and having some resource officers that may finish at the elementary schools, you know, go to the high schools afterwards um and and help those people in in u managing um things so we don't end up with incidents like like we had. So, um, I'll stop there and u, Mr. Attorney, you'll have any comments? >> I do not. >> All right, superintendent. >> Yeah. Um, got a few, so bear with me for a few
117minutes. Um, after the ribbon cutting today, I went back up to Black Intermediate and welcomed the teachers, the new teaching staff, and they actually, Principal Oyster invited them from all three of the schools and had a chance to speak to them. But I mainly want to stand in the door and watch them come in and see it for the first time. So very gratifying. Um and by the way, they are having parent community night parent nights on May 5th, May 7th, and May 12th. All of them at 5:00 p.m. And I think they're inviting different um different schools, maybe the parents from the different schools to come there. May 15th at 5:00 pm is actually going to be a community night. So, anybody wants to come and, you know, from the community and come out
118there, that'd be a great time. Some other dates to remember, uh, take stock in children's senior recognition is going to be on May 7th at 6:00 p.m. And that's always a real enjoyable thing to see the kids have worked hard to um, you know, to earn a scholarship and that type thing. So, that's always a great thing. Um, the all county spring sports banquet is going to be held at PLA Junior Senior High on May 11th at 6:00 p.m. And along that, I want to give a shout out to the PLA High PLA Junior Senior High baseball team who won the second straight district championship. Uh, had a disappointing loss in the playoffs, but u they did finish with a record of 21 wins, seven losses. So, great year for them. uh PAL uh the
119product of Putnham. We are in that process. Uh the Palaca Daily News and the Chamber of Commerce actually have the names of the ones who have been we normally kind of weed them down. We've sent those names to them. So, they should be selecting those finalist and we'll let you know as soon as those are selected. Um speaking of the final situation, Mr. chair. Actually, yes. Coincidentally, yesterday, Miss Drew and myself met with Reno Fails, who works with the city, who's uh very involved with our youth with the city. We had a pretty long extensive meeting really to talk about exactly that. And we are actually taking some steps, tangible steps to not only involve the, you know, the school school district, but it is a community issue. >> Yeah. >> And we are coming
120together. We are actually um scheduling a community meeting right here in this boardroom on June 17th at 9:00 am and we're going to invite different uh people from different segments really just to uh bring some information to them and really talk about what are some things we can do as a school and community to address that. So I agree with you that is a big concern. >> Amen. >> Um want to me Mr. Hanky gave me a note. I want to give a shout out to the fifth grade students at James A. Long for earning the top dragon award last week in our district's battle of the dragons. The competition was seven weeks long and it used the I Ready Fluency Flight Program. It was an innovative for our students in grades 2 through five
121to learn the basic math facts in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. and the fifth grade students at Mosley came in second place. >> Also speaking of Palaka Intermediate, um, as we look ahead, we want to be intentional about honoring those who have shaped the path before us. Dr. James A. Long's impact on the education in this community is lasting, and it's important that our students and families continue to see and understand that legacy. >> Excuse me. In the coming weeks, we will be placing a special plaque at the entrance of the school recognizing Dr. Long's contributions. Good. >> In addition, our electronic sign out front will include a message honoring his legacy as part of its regular display. You will also see similar recognitions throughout this school and at Palata Primary honoring other individuals who
122made a difference in the lives of students across Pedum County. Because we are building new schools and creating new opportunities, we remain grounded in the people who made those opportunities possible. And this is an extremely important announcement for some of our employees. So bear with me. I want to take a few moments to provide an update regarding our recent employee communications and the district's current budget outlook. As you are aware, school districts across Florida continue to face financial challenges due to declining student enrollment and uncertainty surrounding certain federal funding sources. These factors have required us to take a very close and thoughtful look at our budget as we plan for the upcoming year. Earlier in the year, we made the decision to communicate early with employees about the possibility of cost-saving measures, including potential adjustments
123to contract links. That communication was intentional. Our goal was to be transparent and to provide our employees with as much advanced notice as possible rather than waiting until decisions were final. At this time, I'm pleased to share that based on our current financial projections, we do not anticipate reducing the length of contracts for 12-month employees who are paid from, I want to stress, general funds. We know how important that stability is and we are grateful to be in a position to provide that reassurance today. I know a lot of employees have been nervous about that. So we we want to come out and say that today. However, I do want to be clear that we cannot make the same guarantee for positions funded through federal or grant sources. Those funding streams remain uncertain and we
124will continue to monitor them closely as we receive additional information. I also want to emphasize that while we are not recommending reductions at this time, we must remain prepared. If we experience more significant or unexpected budget reductions, we may need to consider additional cost-saving strategies in the future. Please know that any decision that would impact employee compensation or contract terms would only be considered as a last resort. Our priority is and will continue to be supporting our employees, maintaining stability in our schools, and protecting the quality of instruction for our students. We will be communicating this information to our impacted employees this week, but we wanted to bring this to your attention. We will continue to keep the board, our employees, and our community informed as we move forward. Of course, the state, we haven't
125received our funding from the state yet. just a lot of uh moving parts. But I want to go ahead and say that out loud. I know we had a lot of 12-month employees that were very concerned. I understand that. So, we we want to go ahead and say that. But, uh we we're not out of the woods yet. Thank you for your attention to this matter. >> Thank you. Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Anything else to come before the board? Any other business? Seeing none, we will stand adjourned.