001the uh Pton County School Board meeting to order. We will have the pres pledge of allegiance led by Mr. Buckles and the invocation by Miss Gillyard. Please stand. I'm waiting on Miss Gillyard. All right. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Let us pray. Father, in the name of your son Jesus, we come today to conduct the business of this district. God, we thank you for how you have kept us and watched over us. And father, we are especially excited today and please God today to be able to recognize these young people that have gone above and beyond God, have studied and persevered and have achieved. God, we thank you for
002the parents that support them and encourage them to do their very best. And now God, as we conduct the business of this board, we pray God for divine guidance that our hearts and minds will be focused on the fact God that it's about student achievement and them being prepared for the world that is ahead of them. Thank you for everything and we bless your name. Amen. >> Amen. >> All right, board. We will go into our presentations and start with item B1. Um, our spring 2525 testing perfect scores. And Miss Lamro, you are recognized. >> Perfect score. >> I used to do that spelling test, nothing. >> Good afternoon. I'm Renee Lamro, the director of assessment accountability, which includes state testing, which is so popular every spring. Not really, but it is. Um, and not
003only are we here today to congratulate these wonderful children on a great achievement, but it's an unbelievable achievement. I mean, they have every problem right for what they're being recognized for, >> which is amazing. And some you'll hear called more than once. So, we're going to call you up and as we call you up, if you'll come up and you'll get the certificate from me and then we're going to have you line up up here and we're going to take a group picture at the end. Okay. All right. >> Yeah, >> I'm gonna help Miss Lamro and hopefully not butcher some names. Okay. From Crescent uh from chart the charter reading center. Uh, a perfect score on the sixth grade ELA from Kelly Smith Elementary School. A perfect score on the sixth grade mathematics. Maddox
004Ernine. Congratulations, Maddox. From Junior Senior High School, a perfect score on the 10th grade US history test. Sky Coughlin. These next set are going to be from Qi Roberts. for a perfect score on the seventh grade ELA. Mia Bodacan a perfect score on the seventh grade civics test as well as the seventh grade mathematics test. Fox Edwards, perfect score on a seventh grade mathematics class uh test. Drew Hayden, I got a bunch of seventh grade smart mathematics students. This next one is also for that same thing. Alyssa Cruppen Becker Backer. Crumpin Backer. Same thing. Olivia Leath, they're still studying math at school. All right. Seventh grade mathematics. Key Mendes Vasquez. Seventh grade civics and seventh grade mathematics. Victor O'Donnelly. Seventh grade mathematics again, Nicholas Penta. Thank you, Nicholas. Seventh grade civics and seventh grade mathematics.
005Brady Pinkerton spelling beac mathematics. Aiden Robbins. It's a great job from James. This next group is from James A. Long for a perfect score on the third grade mathematics test. Harvey Bowererman, fifth grade science, my favorite subject. Riley Eucina, fourth grade mathematics. Dave Ham, fifth grade mathematics. Tatiana Cooper, fifth grade mathematics. Quumar Crumpton. Um, sixth grade mathematics, Kiara Belton from Browning Pierce Elementary School. Uh, for a perfect score on the fifth grade ELA, Travis Ladson, also from Browning Pierce, a fifth grade, a fifth grade mathematics perfect score from Giovani Landry. from Middleton Bernie Elementary School in Crescent City. Perfect score on fifth grade ELA. Andrew Miranda Miranda Ramirez perfect score in sixth grade ELA. ELA Mason Hatfield perfect score in fifth grade mathematics. Brian Meza and a perfect score in sixth grade mathematics. Nathan Garary
006from Crestston City Junior Senior High School with a perfect score in seventh grade mathematics. There is a theme here. We're doing well in that class. Um Andy Aguilera from Cres Wait, what? Yeah. Yeah. Perfect score on biology. Sean Mims from Crescent City Junior Senior High SCHOOL from Aquilla sixth grade mathematics. Jackson Carson from Mosley Elementary School. A sixth grade ELA per from Prince Hardy from Palaka Junior Senior High School. A seventh grade perfect score on civics. Quanelle Jenkins. And from PLA Junior Senior High School, a perfect score in biology, Jasmine Bennett. Yes. >> Phil, what do you want? >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. >> Well, this will be the first time that Rick and Phil ever been in a perfect school. >> Perfect school. >> Yeah, me too. as they're working to get the picture done.
007We do congratulate these students, their teachers, and their parents um for such fabulous work this last year. We're sorry it takes so long, but it takes a very long time for the state to give us these actual certificates. So, we're glad to honor you today, right before you start to take your next ones. So, >> very nice. super kids. >> And if we keep doing this, we're closing the gap. I'm pretty sure Mr. play >> that will begin to chill because we know what we're doing now. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. Yes. >> Very good. >> It's amazing. >> Awesome. Perfect. Awesome. >> Give them a second to see if they're going to move around. >> Second or two. What a few spelling people. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um Pinkleton. Yeah. From Brown and Pierce. Brady. >> Uhhuh.
008And then Landon. Travis. Landon. >> Yeah, there were quite a few. >> That was pretty neat. >> From Brown and Pierce. >> Perfect score. I never had to I never had a lot of >> spelling on a spelling I mean on spelling test, not a B. >> Yeah. But Congratulations. >> Absolutely. Always good to see you, man. >> See you Sunday. >> Yes. >> Okay. While we are waiting for everybody to file out, Miss Foster, do you want to come up and you'll be the next one to Oh, >> I guess she's going >> I guess you going substitute. Okay. All right. Miss Khan, why don't you wait one just everybody get out. >> Gotcha. my lifellight experience presentation. >> Is Kenna not here? >> Kenna won't isn't able to make it this afternoon, so
009I'm going to fill in for her. >> All right, Miss Cahan, you can proceed. Thank you. >> Good afternoon, board. I'm Felicia Cahan with communications. I am filling in for Kenna Foster who is in our health services department um to talk about the lifellight experience that the students at Palaka Junior Senior High got to experience and I did attend that event um in the capacity of communication. So I did get a firsthand look at the students and that perspective and then how it was received by students and the community. So I'm going to share that with you. So, the Lifeflight Experience is an interactive program that focuses on the impact of distracted driving, risky behaviors, and the importance of responsible decision-making. It's designed to give students a real world look at how quickly situations can
010change, and the role that emergency responders play in saving lives. This program also aligns with Florida statute which requires instruction in areas such as injury prevention, safety, and responsible decision-making. Programs like this help bring those life skills to life in a way that students can truly understand and take away. So, the event did have two components. Um the first was an assembly where students heard directly from lifellight clinicians, EMS, fire rescue, law enforcement about what happens before, during and after a crash. Um Kenna Foster did speak during this event and her personal story touched me and I know it touched many of the students that were in the audience. Um and I think it just helped make the message even more real and made it even more meaningful. So, this is what that assembly looked
011like. They had all of PLA High School's juniors and seniors in attendance. Um, which is very important as these are our young drivers on the road. So, they really took this message and they're going to be able to make some changes and make good choices from what they've heard. So, the second portion which is probably The part they enjoyed the most was that real life simulated crash demonstration. So the students were able to walk onto the field. They saw two vehicles in a mock crash scenario. Um they were able to watch the emergency teams use the jaws of life to actually remove part of a car to take out a quote patient. Um how they got that patient ready for aircraft rescue. So they put them on the gurnie and then they were able to
012see the helicopter land on the field, load that patient up and then fly away. So it was very impactful for students. It really brought the entire process to life in a real way. Um, and we do want to say thank you so much to Baptist, Wolfson's, Air Methods, and I think having our Putinham um parties involved, Chief Taylor with the Pla Fire Department, Johnson's Towing, Sheriff Delo spoke to the students. It made it a very real Putinham presentation and it really spoke to our students on a local level. Um, so it was our local professionals, local voices and a message that was very impactful for our students and that is all I have to share about the Lifellight experience. When we did share this out with the community, it was very wellreceived. Um, we did
013video that and hopefully we'll be able to share it with the juniors and seniors at the other high schools as well. And and so you know some of our freshman a freshman sophomores I have one in particular have their learner permit and um not that I didn't have enough white hair but everything's white and uh are we going to be able to superintendent to some somehow someway bring back driver's education or at least I mean I think parents would pay for their kids that you know um to participate in a driver's education course. or can you speak to that? >> We do have >> in the summer. >> We have in the summer. >> Yes, >> we do have summer driver's ed. Um, and it does involve the kids getting on the highway and driving
014after they've completed some time in the classroom. So, we do have that program. It does have a limited number of students that can be involved. Majority of our students take driver's ed through a virtual class. Um again it doesn't impact um it doesn't take of the course like their their core course from them in the um day. So a lot of them take it virtually like my own child completed it virtually over like 12 weeks with throughout the school year. >> Are there any private companies offering driver's education in the county? >> No, there is not. There there are virtual opportunities for them to do that. I do know that there are places you can go if you want to have your student drive with someone, but they are out of county. >> Okay. All
015right. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Cahan. That was a good presentation. All right, board. We will now move to uh our strategic plan update. And Mr. Hanky, you can come forward. Be recognized, sir. >> Good afternoon, board. Good afternoon, sir. >> I want to just provide a quick strategic planning update since I last presented to you at the April 3rd school board meeting. Um, just so just a few notes to share with you, no presentation. On February 10th, uh, Felicia and I presented at the board of county commissioners meeting, uh, providing an overview of our strategic planning process and encouraging participation in the community survey that was open at the time. And this was wellreceived and madame chair Leotaa Wilkinson thanked us for the presentation and our communication. All of our education elements data triangle
016surveys closed February 13th. We had over 5,000 responses. 16 or 1,682 of those were from elementary students in grades 4 through 6. 2,176 responses were from our secondary students in grades 7 through 12. 633 responses were from parents and community members and 569 responses were from school district employees. Um on March 2nd we held our first focus group session uh with parents, community members and key partners. So that group included the five parents and five community members uh that you submitted for the group along with five key partners representing the education foundation of Putnham County, St. John's River State College and the Putham County Chamber of Commerce. I have to say that group was a really great group of individuals to work with. Um, highly engaged um and had a lot to offer. We began
017our session uh with getting their general perceptions around our district strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. And then what I did is guided them through our uh key performance indicator data that we collect around district grade and other and other indicators. So then we went through a bunch of data and then I had them go back to okay now that we've looked at data um what are some additional strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats based on that data. And so we added to the charts. Um, and there were some great ahas from that group, uh, mostly around communication and around some of the data that we don't often share as widely. Um, and so one of the things we did at the end is we started to look at some of the initial data from our family
018and community partnership survey and then I asked them what they wanted to look at next. And so they gave me a list of some things that they want me to bring to our next session. Um, but were highly engaged and wanted to see more data and had lots of great questions. So what a wonderful group and I appreciate you submitting uh such wonderful individuals to be part of that process. Uh at this time um I'm requesting through the board chair a strategic planning workshop with um the entire board on either April 14th or 15th. So you guys can at the end of the meeting decide um what would work best for you. Um during this workshop, we are going to review all of our data analysis, um including the survey results, and we'll also review
019recently released data about college and career acceleration and some additional data points for you. And then you'll have an opportunity to provide input on prioritization and our next steps as we continue working through the process leading up to what we hope will be a June or July final plan. So, um, at the end of the meeting, um, perhaps during the superintendent's comments, you can identify. I know that there is a regular schoolboard meeting on January or on April 14th. Um, but you also have some additional meetings scheduled for the 15th. So, I'll let the board and board chair determine when you'd like that, but that would be well timed if we could do it on one of those two days. And that's my update. Do you have any questions for me? >> Questions from the
020board? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Thank you. >> Thank you, Jonathan. >> Okay. And our final presentation is on our instructional materials plan. And Miss Zula, you are recognized. >> Good afternoon, board. I am always excited to stand before you and talk to you about the things that are happening in our classrooms. And so, today is no different. I'm here to introduce the PCSD instructional materials adoption plan. So we're going to start with what are we adopting for this school year. We're looking at three different courses we are looking to adopt for hope the PE variation. And when you look at this course as it's identified in C palms are a few key hallmarks of that course. Through this course you are getting a blend of both PE and things around healthy choices. And you
021can see some of the topics bulleted down there on the bottom list. There are a total of 108 standards contained within this one specific course. So, uh it makes it a very important course to consider. In addition to hope, we are also looking for Spanish one and Spanish 2 curriculum materials. Both Spanish one and Spanish 2 focus on helping ensure that kids are able to communicate orally but also that they're able to understand through reading and writing the contents of the language as well as growing in their cultural awareness. Um, and so we will be looking at materials for Spanish one and Spanish 2. For those of you kind of keeping track of how many standards, the wonderful folks who teach these two courses have 98 standards per course um that they're trying to help
022students master throughout the year. Our adoption timeline, you have a copy of this in front of you, but it looks like the following. We started in January with a call for reviewers. And um I always love to shout out our people, and I'll shout them out again in a minute, but I just have to say they did a phenomenal job. We asked quite a task of them and they delivered as usual. Um in January we selected our reviewers as well as our parent member of the elimination and selection committee. We had professional learning and presenta presentations for all the staff reviewers on January 27th. And then for about a month, our folks had access to the materials and they were asked to go in and provide a feedback using the state's core rubric um for
023letting us know their feedback on the various products that were there on the state's potentially approved list. Keeping in mind that this year we won't have full approval until the end of the year of the adoption. On February 23rd, we had our IM elimination and selection committee meeting that was held right here. It was publicly noticed. We had a great turnout for that. And at that time, our folks came um to some agreements around what they were going to recommend to you all as the primary and the alternate curriculum possibility for those courses, which I'll share in just a moment. But there are some additional steps very closely here on the horizon. So today I'm here um sharing with you the outcomes of that elimination meeting, but I'm also here to mark the opening of
024a 20-day feedback window for all additional staff, parents of PCSD students, as well as residents of Putnham County, Florida. And this is the same each year. Um, we publish the curriculum alternate and primary selections on our web page along with all of the details of how to get into the student edition so that families and community members can provide additional feedback beyond just what that review committee and the elimination and selection committee were able to provide. That leads us to the next step. The 20-day um public review and feedback window opens March 11th. So that's tomorrow. and it will remain open through the 30th. I will give a link at the end of this presentation as well as a QR code, but that will go live on our website tomorrow as well so that anybody
025can go in and again review the student editions and provide us with additional feedback. And then on April 15th, we are going to include this year a new portion of this, which is a mandatory schoolboard hearing, at which time I'll share with you any public feedback that we've gotten from the survey, as well as we'll provide a time for the public to be able to provide any comments that they'd like to provide at that public hearing. That will also be publicly noticed, and that will occur at 9:00 on April 15th. on April 28th. That's when we'll actually come back together. It will not be a consent agenda item. It'll be its own individual item and you'll be asked to vote on whether or not to approve the recommendations of that review committee at that time.
026So, that will occur, the actual vote will occur on April 28th. As a reminder, the vote is still not the end. After the vote, we allow the public one more chance. Residents um can contest. There is a very specific way that we do that that will be published on our web page and I will also share that at the time of the vote so that folks know the last um sort of structure that they have to let their voice be heard. If we do not have any contestants to the adoption, we will be ready to adopt after March 20 I mean I'm sorry after May 28th. So, at that time, that's the close of the 30-day contest period, and if no one contests, we can adopt at that time. I'd like to take just a
027minute and thank these PCSD staff review committee members, keeping in mind that these members not only attend the selection and elimination committee meeting. Um, they did that, but they also spend a lot of time on their own and with me going through materials and really listening to publishers, asking questions, commenting, providing evidence of why they feel like a certain curriculum may outperform another. Um, and so you can see when you look at the list, we did have every school represented. We did not have Qi Roberts represented for Hope, but we did have them for Spanish 1 and Spanish 2. And again, I can't say enough about this incredible team. They really dug into the materials and provided so much evidence and feedback, which you'll see here in a minute. Now, while they do not receive
028additional monetary compensation for this um wonderful service, they do receive inservice credits helping to make it um a little bit worthwhile, right? The other worth their while comes in, you have curriculum that hopefully you feel really good about, right? Really confident and excited to use in your classroom, but in addition to that excitement of using it in your classroom, you also would be eligible for 30 inservice credits. the selection and elimination committee that met. Um when they meet, they go through a protocol process where the team that comes in um for this elimination gets to hear what all of the review committee thought of the products. They get to go through the survey together. Um we share approximate costs of the resources at this time. We share the highlights as well as any challenges that
029they indicated in their reviews, we share at that time with the group who um helps us eliminate and select. And then we have some facilitated discussion. If you see those great little cards there on the bottom and you've been in any of our classrooms, you probably are familiar with that great little tool. That's an agree disagree card. And we use them in staff development, too. It's just a wonderful way to keep passion um confined to a protocol, which is a great help. And so we um we have some facilitated discussion followed by at the very end of the meeting everyone who is attended for the selection and elimination has an opportunity to have their voice heard via a mentee meter and they help us rank the curriculum again to what's the primary recommendation and what's
030the alternate and I will share with you the results here in just a minute. So let's talk about hope first. Again, this is hope the PE variation. Um, for this one, we only had two products on the state's potential approved list. We had E Dynamics, that's a digital only course, and then we had ETR Associates and their Health Smart curriculum, which also was digital, but had a printable component to it. Of those two curriculums, the number that you see as the percentage that reflects their survey results. So those would be the staff individual staff reviewers. This is what they felt about the curriculum. So you can see just a few I pulled a few of their comments there. Um you can see that the um ETR portion from just our staff had slightly higher a
031higher percentage than the E dynamics. And that's important because when we move to this next slide, you can see that e dynamics once the entire team came together actually became our primary selection for the course with ETR being our alternate selection. As a reminder, that alternate selection is really important, especially in the instance of courses like hope because if one of those materials does not make it to that final approved list, we'll need to go with the other, right? So, picking a primary and an alternate keeps us from having to pull the entire team back together in the instance that one of the selections doesn't make it to the state's final approved list. Um, a little more about E Dynamic, which is the one um that ended up getting the most votes for the primary
032recommendation. You can see the approximate cost there. It's about $60 per student for the year. We do get a significant discount if we go ahead and adopt for the full 5 years. Um, bringing the cost down to 180 per student for the life of the adoption. or we also have a um an option here with this particular company to do a school site license if that ends up being less expensive and that's $7500 for the full 5 years of the adoption but then you're not paying that per student cost. Um the e dynamic learning courses do include two digital courses. There's one per semester. You can do some customizing of how you'd like the components to fit within the semesters, but you cannot move pieces from one semester into the next semester, if that makes
033sense. It does integrate with Canvas and our single sign on, which is great to know. It's built for Florida standards, and this was a big selling point um with the selection and review committee, not adapted for Florida standards. And if you've been in the textbook world for a while, you know that that can make a big difference in the quality and in the strength of the alignment because when you have a national book, typically, not always, but typically what they'll do is make a case for this kind of aligns to this standard. And you may end up with a material with one lesson connected to multiple standards that teachers sometimes disagree with. And I don't blame them, right? So when you have a Florida created curriculum, um sometimes that is helpful. In addition, our teachers,
034these are some of the things that they loved. They loved that with this curriculum, while it is all digital, there were editable pacing guides for teachers um to use to help structure the time as they see best desirable. Um the lesson and course slide decks are included. So, while it is online, there are also teaching materials that come with this to help a teacher be able to also lead and facilitate a lesson on their own free of the course materials in the digital platform, which is great on a day when w internet may be down or something like that. Um, all units include formative assessments. And one of the other things they loved is that this program will show the teachers when a student attempts to complete a quiz without first all the less informatives.
035Um, which seemed to be a really great selling point for our folks. Um, in addition, they really appreciate the the differentiation and scaffolds. It will read text to students. It highlights and those highlights that they make in the digital platform can be printed for a student if the teacher desires or if you have a student who needs that kind of accommodation. There's a dictionary and a pictionary if you come to a word you don't understand. It's translatable in 90 language and there's a great bank of digital flashcards um with this particular material. So again, just highlighting a few of the things that our PCSD staff and residents felt like was really important. For Spanish 1 and 2, we had three different programs um that were part of the potentially approvable materials. This year they were
036Klet World Languages um and then Vista had two different curriculums on the list. You can see that with this one, Raportteros, the Klet World Languages program actually scored the highest in terms of that review committee and scored the highest at a 95%. So most people who ranked this curriculum um ranked it in the strongly agree zone for every single one of those state rubric questions. In addition, if you're looking at the matter at the bottom here, you'll notice that on the first two columns, I do have areas of weaknesses and areas of opportunity. If any review member listed something as a disagree or strongly disagree, I tried to put that on the entire team's radar so that they would be aware and it would promote some additional discussion when we got in the review and
037selection committee meeting. But you'll notice that with CLT world languages, all I have listed there is strengths. And that is because not one single reviewer had a disagree, a neutral, or a strong strongly disagree for any one of the indicators, which is pretty exciting. That means that every school um was on the same page with feeling like this curriculum was really going to meet their needs with students moving forward. You can see that once the elimination and selection team came together, they felt the same. They're making their primary selection of repro reporteros um that Klet World languages publisher and the alternate selection Ceros, which is one of the Vista publications. And incidentally, it was really important to our review team members. One of the things they asked for at the start of this was to
038please keep continuity across Spanish one and Spanish 2. What they did not want was two separate publishers for the course because they felt like when they started looking that was going to create too many gaps for kids as they moved from Spanish one to Spanish 2. Thus the reason why we really looked at both together. We don't always do that but in the case of world languages that seemed to make sense um that we would think about the continuity of the standards crossing Spanish one and Spanish 2. Here's a little bit about that one. The approximate cost of this one is 147.80 for student digital access. That is for the life of the adoption. So, not they don't do a per year offering, which um I'm kind of excited about because you get a larger
039discount. Um in addition to that, you'll notice um that while teacher digital as is $29.95, they are providing it free for the life of the adoption with the purchase of 20 student um student editions, which is exciting. And then you'll notice they'll also provide us with an annotated teachers edition with every 20 student editions that we buy as well. Um, and just to purchase student editions, like a print hard copy, it would be $69.95. And the prices are exactly the same for Spanish one and Spanish 2. So that's of important note. This one also integrates with Canvas are um single sign on Clever. And you'll notice this one too. this was important to them. So, I thought it would be important to share with you what they thought about this. This one also is built
040for Florida and is on the Florida, they say Florida approved, but it's the Florida pre-approved list. It's not quite official yet. Um, but they wrote it just for Florida based on Florida standards. And that seemed to be a very um important point for our reviewers. So with that in your packets board following this slide you have all of the reviewer links for the student editions that we don't make the teacher editions available for a multitude of reasons. Um most importantly because once you make those available your assessments are no longer secure because when you have teacher access you have the whole platform. Um, so we are providing student access for everyone in following with state guidance. And again, that feedback window will be open March 11th through um the 30th. There's a QR code you
041can scan to get to the survey if you like. This will also be up on the Department of Teaching and Learning web pages tomorrow. The survey link uh the bit.ly link for the survey is right there on the slide as well there at the bottom. And uh for the public, when you go to our website, you're going to see something that looks very similar to this tomorrow where you'll see public access for the primary recommendation. We've listed exactly what that primary recommendation is. And then you'll see the public access for the alternate as well as any um user information you might need to get into the platform. And then there it is for Spanish one and Spanish 2. And you'll notice there I just stacked them. So you have Spanish one on top and Spanish
042two on the bottom. Uh with both of those products, a reminder that the public hearing for this to look at the survey results and hear any additional feedback before the vote will be April 15th at 9:00 a.m. here in the boardroom. And I look forward to hopefully sharing some more feedback with you all at that time. >> Jen, I have a question. you parent comes in and and to a meeting like that and they obviously maybe have some strategic or or rational reason that they disagree with with one of the selections. What does the state give the the board latitude in doing to work out a some type of resolution there or >> Yeah. So the feedback is exactly that. The feedback is just feedback. you can take that um as the board determines appropriate.
043But when we get to the contest period, if they contest the adoption, then we have to have a special hearing. We have to elect a person to sit before that hearing and then that magistrate would have the final say of yes, we're going to go ahead and adopt or no, this was concerning enough to not adopt. Now, there is a form very specific for that. You cannot a a p a public uh community resident could not just say I don't like that material. There are very specific guidelines for what can make you not go ahead and adopt it. Right? And on the form that we have for our district, they have to deliver it in person, right? And then there are some very specific things that they have to provide evidence on. Does it not
044meet a standard? Does it break a mandate? Um, is there some other reasonable reason rationale for not um not taking the board and the community and the staff's feedback? >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Any other questions? >> I have one. Um, you know, this very important. I mean, no doubt learning the Spanish language, not just in Florida, but across the country is critically important. How does how do we Well, first question and and I may need to follow up with with you and Miss France. Our Spanish teachers, we teach Spanish one and two in each all four high schools, correct? >> So, is there there's no any type of introductory to Spanish thing in in the sixth grade or seventh grade? It's just all high school. >> Yeah, >> we do not have any
045courses in our elementary schools for like pre- Spanish. There are courses you can take again online if you would like to take them and it starts in kindergarten. There is a virtual course for Spanish, but we do not offer it in our elementary schools. Um, and nor do we actually I think QI may start Spanish one in 8th grade. They may start it that early. It's really important for us to at least have two consecutive years of a world language for our students who are going into a university. >> Right. So, and the the the role of the Spanish teachers in this process c can you did I miss something? I didn't >> No, that's a great question. The reviewer. So, when we start the review process for any subject, the first place I start
046is who from your campus teaches the subject and who would be willing to be a part. Now, there are times when folks look at the requirements of this and how involved it is and I don't want to minimize that. it is very involved. There are times when people look at that and because of a variety of things, I have another sport going on at this time and it's the end of the nine weeks where they may elect not to be a part. Um, but we always those teaching the courses involved in the adoption process because they're the ones who are really doing the most important work with this, right? I'm there to help facilitate the conversations and help ensure that we follow the letter of the law with our process, but they are really there
047to serve as the experts in the content and share their expertise. And um it was really exciting for me cuz I've been with a lot of core subject areas. I have never been with our hope teachers and our Spanish teachers um in in a situation like this. I've been in their classrooms, but I haven't sat with them in this type of really involved process. And I got to say again, I I'll say it a million times, our folks did such an amazing job. They would not rest until they knew that I was reaching out to companies to get additional answers for them. Their questions were just, and I don't know, I shouldn't be surprised by that. All of our people are amazing. Um, but to know that these folks don't always have a voice in
048other capacity just because of the different kinds of roles that they serve. To see them really offer such deep and detailed feedback just made me very proud of our people yet again. I always am, but this time I was pleasantly um excited and surprised. It was wonderful. >> Okay. Thank you, board. Any other questions? >> No. >> All right. Thank you, ma'am. Very good presentation. All right, board. We will move to the um public comments and I only have one. Uh Mr. Hot Tim Hotailing, you come up and give your name and address for the record and you are recognized. Tim Hotelling, 105 Riverside Way, San Mateo. Just a a quick image. I was at the uh water management district meeting this today my other passion eelgrass and they had a crisis similar to what
049you all had. It's quite instructional I thought and and worthy of watching. They had a contractor about to let for $4.5 million to plant some eel ground. And they had a I my ears don't hear so well. So I I guess he was a an attorney or something that steps up and represented one of a couple of biders and said, "Hate to tell you this, but this outfit you're about to spend $4.5 million doesn't have a valid license to do that work." at which time yeah there was they they shuffled and then they said uh let's take we're not going to talk about this but let's take an interruption and you well first nobody at the the front line knew anything about it either. So it was a surprise for everybody and so they ran
050to their corners and give me some copies of licenses and stuff and which we weren't privy of but uh some of the responses were heartwarming to me. It was uh um one of the ladies has a should I had her name just a wonderful lady uh has a lot of experience in contracting and she starts asking questions of uh well do we just assume that when somebody puts in a bid that they're eligible or do we verify it? um to the uh couple other other questions and it seems it was a license that was just allowed to lapse. Long story short, they let it go. But she came out with a bunch of other questions and then the chair uh one of our former senators says, um there's too many questions here. We're going to
051have us a workshop and at that time we're going to decide what we did, what happened, what the standards are, why nothing was done, and we're going to make sure this doesn't happen again because we're real happy with ourselves of having audits where we're all clean and we don't have to worry about problems and we're not going to have problems. And it it made me visualize the concept again of an inspector general being able to provide you guys as as your employee provide you some insight with some questions that need asked and that sort of thing. But uh it it was interesting. Thank you. >> That's all. Thank you. >> All right. Thanks. >> Um okay board. That's the all the public comments. So, we'll move into the uh consent agenda and Miss Pickkins, I'll
052start with you. >> I have nothing to pull. >> Mr. Barber, >> I have nothing to pull. >> Miss Gillyard. >> Nothing to pull, sir. >> Miss Wagner. Good. >> I have nothing. >> All right. Chair will entertain a motion to for adoption of the consent agenda. >> Mr. Chairman, I make a motion that we adopt the consent agenda as presented. >> Second. >> I have a motion and second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion carries unanimously. Okay, we will now move into our adjourn the regular meeting. Moving to the emergency meeting and we will start with um I1 which is change order uh08 for the Crescent City prek a Ajax. Um u I think you all have gotten that information came out with the agenda. Any any questions or comments about
053that for the toward the staff or the I think the contractors here. >> Okay. Chair will entertain a motion. I >> offer a motion that we accept item I1 the change order number eight present city prek6 Ajax justification explanation timesensed. >> I have a motion and second. All in favor signify by saying I. I I motion carries unanimously. I two Melrose Elementary Parish McCall. Any questions or comments? >> All right. Chair will entertain a motion. >> Mr. Chair, I'll for a motion that we accept item I two um change order number 01 ERP GMP2 Merose Elementary. >> I'll second I'll second that, Mr. Chairman. >> All right. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Motion carries unanimously. All right. And the last one, I
054three. Um, out of state travel on our national youth advocacy and resilience conference. Any questions or comments for the staff? Seeing none, chair will entertain a motion. >> I'll offer a motion that we accept item I3, out of state travel after the fact national youth advocacy and resilience conference. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion and second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Motion carries unanimously. >> All right, board. We will now move into our reports. And Miss Wagner, I will start with you. >> I uh had the pleasure of attending the Melrose uh groundbreaking ceremony recently. Um as did a lot of us here. Um, we are very excited and and I am um well, I did want to encourage the public uh to stop listening to things
055that are posted online. I've had so many people even in Gainesville this week, an attorney I I was talking to her and she said, "Oh, I heard that they're tearing down the school. What's going on?" I'm like, "They're not tearing down I mean, so I had to explain the situation." Um, you know, if people have questions, I'm happy to answer them if they need to contact the school, you know, but but the things that are going on um are are very exciting and we're where the majority of uh Melrose, I think, is very excited about it and and I do appreciate I know they I think they just left, but um uh the contractors and architects uh really have gone out of their way to speak with me and, you know, calm some of my
056fears or concerns and and I just they're they started plugging at it the minute we were gone after the groundbreaking. So, we were very excited. Um, also attended the uh Black History Month celebration uh on the 26th, couple days after uh our last meeting and somehow or another, that's the first time in the last three years that I've been able to attend with my schedule. So, it was just wonderful and and we had some good good laughs with the trivia game that they played and just really enjoyed that. And I I know the kids that were in attendance um definitely did. And just a note on the emergency services event. I don't remember what they called that exactly. Um combined with your comment um about the driver's ed, you know, I'm I'm glad they were
057doing that. You know, we used to have I didn't personally take driver's ed, but uh we had it available to us and I I would love to see something where these kids are getting on the road and being trained because there's so many that just don't I pulled in the last time I came to Pala. I pulled up to the light at 19 and I wanted to see who on earth was driving this car that had been all over the road. I mean, just almost headon coming from Melrose on 100. I'm going, "What is this person doing? They must be under the influence." And no, they get up to the light, they're driving with their knee, and they are steady texting. And it's just so frustrating because the next time, you know, it could have
058gone a lot worse. So, I do think education on the driving habits and and self in particular, but the emergency services uh event looked really really fun uh and and educational there. So, I'm sure it got their attention on that. And I am looking forward to superintendent notes because there's a lot of dates that have been floating around now for our meeting. So, I definitely want to >> want to get those straight. And that's all I have today. >> All right. Thank you, Miss Gillyard. >> Yes, sir. just almost the exact same as Mrs. Wagner. I too uh got to catch the tail end of the uh black history celebration at CEO with uh Mrs. Brown and and Mr. Campbell and they were playing the cahoots trivia game and and like she said, the kids
059were so into it. They were trying to guess. And what I liked about it even more so was the fact that they had questions from each end of the county that when they said Crescent City, the kids from Crescent City perked up or when they said Innark and the kids perked up and that that just made it all all the more relevant and they just had a great time and then they served them a meal. So I know they appreciated that. Uh the groundbreaking I did commend uh um Mrs. who I told I I guess I didn't commend her. Maybe I did tell you the job you did uh at the uh groundbreaking at Merose. It just it's great when when there is a connection uh like Mrs. Pickkins did down at uh Crescent City
060and how you did at at Merose and and those kids were well behaved for that, you know, for the to have the entire school out there. But I just thought it was it was great. And the kids may not have understood everything that was taking place, but they did see a building torn down behind them and knew that something new was coming. So they they're grasping this. And then the final thing to Mrs. Lamaro and to Mrs. France uh and to the parents that brought our children to recognize them for their scores last spring in 2025. Perfect scores. I mean we had a full house and that is uh exceptional keep going back I know I keep referencing it but when our stakeholders are concerned and they voice their concern in such a way that
061it's not a criticism but it is a concern and and I think of Mr. Clay when he was concerned about that bottom quartile. What are we doing for them? And yes, we have graduation moving in the right direction. And now we are filling in the gaps with these students that are down here that are being pulled up. And so, uh, it's going to take time. Rome wasn't built in a day, but we are working at it. Our teachers are plugging at it. and and we have some things in place and some great people out there that are leading them and so I'm thankful for that. Um, earthwork with Merrills. My goodness, when I look at what they make, I'm thinking I should have gone into earth work, you know, but I love kids, so I'm
062I'm where I'm supposed to be. I'm done, sir. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you, >> Mr. Buckles. >> Well, I'll echo Miss Gillard on that. I it of course I've been through development over the years at Melrose and we'd hit one building and hit another building to try to make improvements and never kind of got to where we where we needed to be until I see what's occurring now. And the young lady that was a teacher that was in first grade came up and told me that she was in first grade the last time we rebuild did her wing over there. and and then I think superintendent mentioned her comments and so did Miss Wagner and and I was glad to hear Miss Wagner get a chance to talk about Melrose because she tells
063us all the time about Melrose and it was you did a really good job. But it was it was really super to see the kids get to watch actually what's happening and and to know you know there's people right there across the line in Bradford and and Klay County. They're going to be coming to Melrose. I can tell you that it's going to draw a lot of kids across the line for that new school. And with the safety features and the stuff that are being done, I'm just so pleased with it. I I just I was really happy. I thought that was a great day for everyone. And then I'll move on to uh what Sandy was talking about on academics and scores. Um, you know, we're a title one school district and you can
064take that in any way you want. We do we get some government funding. Yes, we do. But I think we we're on the right track to help kids lead better lives. When you see how many kids we've have now, the grad rates and and uh you can talk about, you know, well, you're doing this and that's why you got higher grades or you doing that. Let me tell you something. when you follow the different avenues that we have for graduation rates uh that that the state of Florida allows and you're able to get a a child and I had a lady down here this morning, I won't call her name, but when I came in to meet that was just helping her child get a a diploma. It means so much more. It could be
065anywhere from 500,000 to over a million dollars in lifetime earnings just to have a high school diploma. It's equivalent. And that means a lot in Putnham County and people that want to Google it or or Snapchat it or whatever you want to do can check it out. But it it uh it it means a lot and for each and every teacher and everybody that's reaching out u kudos to you. I think I think we've we've done well here in Putnham County for the future of these kids. And uh the the lifeflight simulation was absolutely wonderful. I have recently had a granddaughter in an accident where the vehicle was total but she was okay. Yes, it's a scary world and every every year or or couple of years we we have to bring or we need
066to bring vehicles on campus like the superintendent and had done to let the kids see this because I've been through too many graduations and end of school ceremonies over the years and lost students at a really wonderful time and u it helps the kids to think and to grasp what what is able the what they're able to see out there and know that it is dangerous. Like Miss Wagner said, somebody texted on their phone. It's one of the biggest problems we have. But u with that, I I'll pass it on. >> All right, Miss Pickins. >> Okay. Yeah, the Melo Melrose um groundbreaking was wonderful. Miss Wagner did an excellent job. It was so great to see the whole school watching that. And I thought um I'm sure quite a few teachers are using that
067whole construction building um as a lesson for those kids. So they're going to get a real life lesson about building and how they construct things. I I can see a lot of different um lessons that could be derived from that. Um I did go to the Black History program. It amazes me and and I want to commend Justin Campbell and his um committee. Every year there is something different. Um and it it the this year they focused on the different sororities of which Miss Gillard is a Zeta. >> Yes. Is that correct? >> That'd be bad if I gotten it wrong. Um you're right. >> But uh and then the Cahoot program was wonderful. I I would share it with all the kids. I I thought it was a a great um learning experience. Um
068hopefully the the students that were watching um they got to see that on the lifelight. Um did anyone video that so that the kids at at Crescent City or Interlocking could get >> Felicia had we had some video of it and we attempted to get at all four of the high schools this year. They could not forate Right. >> So, we will reach out and do the same thing next year and try to get the other ends as well. >> And and and to thank you to what Mr. Liry said about the younger kids, you know, if the we're going to go to that kind of time involved at Palaca High for 11th and 12th graders, you know, maybe, you know, they're already there. Maybe we could include the ninth and tth graders or even
069younger students. that that could be an option. Um, and I know that they have real jobs that they have to get back to >> and they have agreed to come back year after year. >> Oh, awesome. That's wonderful. >> I just got a note on the the video Melissa text me. It'll be on our YouTube channel tomorrow. >> Okay, good. >> They video it out there. >> Good. That'll that'll be good. Thank you. Um, and also Driver's Dead is offered in at all of our schools, I think. I know it's offered at Crescent City during the summer and it's a it's a great program, but numbers are limited. Um, it's funded we we see that it's funded every year through different uh grants or >> Yeah. funds. >> Well, if I ever ride anywhere with
070any of you guys, I'm a really bad passenger because I taught driver's ed and there wasn't a break on my side to to use like the driver's school. I was at a private school in St. John Chevrolet back then provided the car, but I'm a really bad passenger. Just But go ahead. I'm sorry. >> Uh Steve Cummings does an excellent job and has taught drivers ed for for a long time at Crescent City. Um, and the perfect scores. I don't it I think this was the highest number we've had because we really had no more room and there were probably >> maybe even half of the students that probably w did not want to miss their seventh grade um se you know class. So that's why they weren't here. Um but it that is a
071perfect score. That's not missing a question. And two or three of them were multiple tests. That was just amazing. I happened to see at the very beginning of the meeting, she came in early, one of my former students. So, I went and I talked to her and it was her son and I didn't think she'd been out of school to have a senior that long ago, but time flies. Um, I want to just have a reminder that our Title One surveys are out and for parents to start filling those out for us. That helps um the district in many ways. And uh yesterday I was going by u Middleton Bernie the new campus and the Ajax construction office trailer is gone. And so that means we're getting really um not that I you know I
072enjoyed seeing that there because I knew they were there working but um to have it gone it just means we're really getting close. And I also missed um bus drivers appreciation and we all very much appreciate our bus drivers. I know that Middleton Bernie and and Miss Brady went out of the way and recognized each one of them. And also I saw a picture recognizing our maintenance department and you know we we couldn't function without our maintenance department and our bus drivers. So um thank you and a shout out to all of them. And I believe that's everything I have. >> All right. Thank you. Um I'd like to thank the staff, Miss Cahan and Miss McDaniel and Miss Whitehurst for another excellent uh groundbreaking ceremony. Uh and having all the kids there was very
073special, very special place in my heart. My mother graduated from high school, went all 12 grades at Melrose High School, as did eight of her brothers and sisters. um and her oldest sister started school there in 1910. So that school probably historically is the longest serving school in the county, 126 years plus. Um so excited about that. um the driver's education, you know, um you know, it was a half semester class when I was um in high school and and I guess we all were in high school and um really I I think made a huge difference in the driving abilities and cutting down in accidents over the years. And the one thing that we didn't have back then that they have today that I think is probably the number one cause of accidents in
074young young people's lives are the cell phones. Yeah. >> Um and I don't know any driver education course that that is going to stop that. But uh I do think that the lifellight um um you know ceremony um um seeing that certainly had to affect those kids in in a way that gosh you know I don't want to be on that helicopter. So um those things are so critically important. Um and I think and echo all of your other comments and uh we will move to our counselor. Anything good? All right. All right, superintendent. >> Yeah, I've got um some happy information first I'll share. Then I've got some scheduling information I'll share with you. Just want to remind you that our product to put nominations are still open and I think we've received a
075number of them, but we continue to want to receive as many as we can before the deadline. Speaking of the Melrose groundbreaking, a couple days after the building was demolished, it was gone. They completely You've seen it. >> It's just gone. >> They've cleared it and u they're ready to start building there. >> They're scared of Miss Wagner. >> Yeah. So, they're moving right along. The VPK carnival that we had, I understand was a big success. That was last week. And it's a reminder that we are enrolling students for VPK for next year. Don't forget next week is spring break. So if you come down here then may not find a lot of people might be on break. But we'll be open though. We'll be open. But I may not be here. But >> Pam
076County Fair is approaching. I think it's a week after next. >> Mhm. >> Can't wait to see our students. Uh we have a big showing of FFA and 4H students that show in the fair as well as many of our students that perform and submit art and other items for judging. So come out and support them. Here are some calendar items if you have your calendar out. Don't forget we do have a special board meeting >> this Friday at 9:00 a.m. and that is to approve the Melrose GMP. and our staff is working hard with the uh architect and the and the uh contractor to make sure everything that needs to be in there is in there. So, we're doing a lot of that upfront stuff. >> Will we get that um to review maybe
077Thursday or >> JD? Can you help on that? This is >> when that will be ready. >> We're meeting at 8:30 in the morning with them again to hopefully dot every eye, cross every tea kind of thing. Um, at that point, I mean, hopefully we could I would think we could probably get it back out to y'all. What I don't want to give you is something that's not done. There we met this morning um with the architect to ask some more questions and get some clarifications and I'm hoping tomorrow morning those will get ironed out. So, I mean, obviously we want want you to go to see it ahead of time. >> Yeah, Thursday morning be fine. I mean, >> yeah, for some reason it's not. I'm sure it will be, but >> I don't
078want to rush it. >> I mean, even if we had to schedule another meeting, I mean, I want to do it as soon as possible, but I want us to we're vetting everything, but I want you to have time to read it and review it. >> There's part of the thing there's some hold up we have like we have placeholders where we didn't get enough bids on something or what bid bid clarification. I don't want to just say there's a million dollars in this slot and it might be 750. It might be a million five. We don't we're not playing that game. I said let's be sure we know we can fill in that blank and know that that who's doing what and what's it going to cost. >> Okay. >> So hopefully hoping maybe
079end of day tomorrow or Thursday morning we can get it out to y'all. >> All right. If there's a problem, we'll be in contact with you, but I want to make sure that it's right. Thank you, JD. So, um that's our special board meeting on April 14th. We do have a a regular board meeting, but Susan gave me a note about scheduling a workshop prior to that meeting. And Susan, was that on strategic planning? >> Yeah, for the 15th. Before that meeting on the 15th, >> so we could do it on the 14th before the board meeting or on the 15th. Then we have a special board meeting at 9 on the 15th >> on instructional materials. It's a basically what Jen presented, we need to be able to have a separate meeting. >> So
080that's 15. >> And then we scheduled a workshop at 9:30 that same day to pres provide some audit responses. Y'all had asked about that. So we're actually going to do a workshop on that at 9:30. >> So I think you were saying we could schedule another workshop that day. on the same at 9:30 that day or on the 14th if everybody wants. >> So, Mr. Chair, we could either do it the 14th before the board meeting or add it to the schedule on the 15th. So, it's whatever y'all's pleasure is. >> What's the board's pleasure? I like the 14th. >> Um, if we did the 14th, would that be before our meetings with the administration? Well, yeah, we probably need to um talk about that. I mean, probably have the workshop prior to the board
081meeting and maybe bump our if we bumped ours up to maybe start at one instead of two. >> Mhm. >> That way you be you going to be hanging around anyway. >> You mean our 15 minutes? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. Okay. All right. I can >> we do that at one on that day? >> We're We're talking about the 14th. >> On the 14th. Just so you're I mean just so you're aware I'm I'm going to be in Putnham County, but I have a trial that morning from 9 to 1. >> Okay. >> Hopefully we can over >> maybe schedule you for the last slot, >> right? And and if if not I could, you know, >> yeah, we'll work in >> but uh hopefully it'll be done and I don't have to miss
082the meeting completely. >> Um >> so consensus of the board will do the workshop on the 14th. >> Okay. For >> strategic planning. for strategic planning for Mr. Hanky. >> Mr. Chairman, even if even if Miss Wagner couldn't make it, >> could we under the regular board meeting allowed to reopen dialogue I mean on it and and and educate her or we going to have to make a decision at that particular meeting? >> Yeah, the meeting is uh y'all's meetings 15 minute meetings. >> Okay. >> On the 14th and then there'll be a workshop. Then there'll be a board meeting. So, >> but I just try to find a way to get Linda there. >> Uh, Linda, I think that'd be plenty of time for you to be here. >> The work the work is
083supposed to be what time. >> What time do you say? Um, >> 2:30. >> 2 to 3 for strategic planning >> an hour. >> Okay. 2:30. >> So, we might even um Susan schedule maybe even bump it up to 12:30 or something just so we can get everybody in. >> Okay. >> And she'll send us Yeah, she does. >> Yes. >> Okay. She she'll do it. >> I'm writing it down still. >> All right. >> So, I think that covers the workshops. And the other thing I mentioned to all of you, I just want to u say it in public is um the bond oversight committee is um if you remember from the this policy that they serve a term, first term of three years. Remember, they're appointed by board members. two per board member,
084two for me. Well, their term ended January 31st, but according to the policy, they can serve two consecutive terms if they choose to. So, what we are doing, I've asked Alice to contact each one of the committee members to see if they want to continue to serve. If not, what we will let you know and um be thinking of someone in case that happens who you might recommend. And don't forget if they do want to do it, we do have an application for them to fill out and and then we also make sure there's not a conflict, you know, some type of conflict with the bond type thing. So, but we will uh contact you before the next board meeting. In the next board meeting, I would ask you if you do have someone you
085want to nominate, if you do have a vacancy, be prepared to um say their names at that meeting if you would on the on the U 24th, our next meeting, March 24th. And I think that's all I have. Yep. >> All right. Any other business come before the board? >> Bill, the only other question I may have, you're on the highway transportation committee, correct? the safety safety highway 100 board. I mean, are they still pretty active or doing? I did I did get a request from one of our me or from one of our former schoolboard employees who uh is also on the committee that that she and I I agree with her that it seems like the law enforcement presence has disappeared and um she'd like for us to meet again and see if
086if you know h how we can keep this you know u that law enforcement presence at some level continuing to go. So, uh, both she and I, well, she contacted Miss Wilkinson and, um, the board school, the county commission chairman, and I mentioned it to her. So, I think that we will have another meeting, and I do think it's important. >> Well, thank you. >> Okay. All right, board. With uh, no further business to come before the board, we will stand adjourned.