School Board Meeting- 6-17- 25

001We'll call the district school board meeting to order for June the 17th. Um, we will have the invocation led by Mr. Buckles. I'm sorry, the pledge of allegiance led by Mr. Buckles and the invitation by Miss Gillyard, the board chaplain. Please stand. 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 now trusting, believing in you, calling upon your name, placing, oh God, in your care, our children, our employees. God, we pray, oh merciful father, for safety while they're on the summer break. God, keep them safe. Let them not take any unnecessary challenges, God. Father, we pray for our children that are

002preparing to go off to college. We pray, God, that you would keep your hands of protection around them. Bless all of our employees. God, give them this time to rest, to relax and recuperate. God, to return in August, God, ready to do it all over again. God, we thank you for those that are coming before us this afternoon to be recognized as they retire. God, we thank them for their services. Thank them, oh God, for giving of themselves tirelessly. And now, God, we pray that you will direct our thoughts, our hearts, and our minds as we make decisions that will impact our community, and our children at large. We thank you and we give you praise in Jesus's name. Amen. Amen. Okay, board, we will move to uh D1 retire retiree recognitions. Good afternoon. Um

003once again I get the the privilege of honoring a few of our retirees, our recent retirees. Um so today um I'm I think we only have two of them here, but I'm going to I'm going to call all of them out because you know I think all retirees need that recognition. U Miss Deborah King. Yes. Um so just a little bit about Miss Deborah King. She has been at Melon Learning Center as a teacher. She retired with us in 2018 with 14 years and then came back and has served another six. And so we so appreciate her. So now are you really going to retire this time? You're not going to come back? I already asked. I've already asked. Congratul Yeah, I can I can stumble down there. And I'm gonna go ahead and have

004the other one come up. She's not coming back this time. Um Elizabeth Corey, it's Elizabeth Corey. Okay, so Elizabeth Corey has been um a teacher and an occupational therapist with us um in our ESE department for 33 years. Actually, 33 and a half years. Um she actually has a total of almost right at 36 years in Florida retirement. So we wish her all the best in her retirement. Um Miss Nina Gillans, I know she's back there. She has been a custodian with us. Um currently at Middleton Bernie. Have you always been at Middleton Bernie and Middle School? Okay. And at Miller. All right. 32 years of service to Putnham County. And then the last one I want to recognize, I know unless she um changed her mind, but I I didn't think she was going

005to be able to be here. Marjorie Stam. Miss Stam. I didn't I don't see Miss Stam. Miss Stam is um and I know that everyone is brokenhearted because she does amazing things with our um students in reading classes at the high school. Um she is retiring. um she's been with us for 13 years, has done an amazing job with our um struggling readers, but she's served in a school district for 36 years. So, yeah, we're we're we're sad to see her go, but we're happy for Yes. [Applause] Okay board, we will move to uh under presentations B2, the Crescent City presentation. Come forward, please. Good afternoon, board. Good afternoon. Um, every now and then something amazing happens in our schools that reminds us just how deeply we're connected, not just as educators and students, but

006as people. Today, we want to take a few moments to recognize two of our staff members whose quick thinking and care quite literally saved a life. On the afternoon of March 14th, Chuck Magcguire, a beloved teacher, experienced a life-threatening medical emergency on campus. What could have ended in tragedy became a story of compassion and courage thanks to the actions of two individuals. Without hesitation, Miss Susanna Bender and Mr. Tim Adams recognized something wasn't right. They stayed by Chuck's side, called for help, and ensured he received immediate emergency care. Their presence of mind and refusal to just let him drive home saved his life. In fact, Chuck later shared that had he left campus that day, he would not have survived. Wow. So, today, Chuck is asked to take a moment to surprise these two heroes

007in a special way. And he has brought two people who mean the world to him to help present these certificates. Please join us in recognizing and thanking Mr. Tim Adams and Miss Susanna Bender for their life-saving actions and incredible humanity. Awesome. Join you here if that's all right. Wow. Did y'all wonder what you were called out here for? Tim. Tim as a principal. Yes. I've had more than one person I've shaken hands with or hugged and they left and they never came back. So, you did a good Y'all did good. Yes. That's great. Yes. Very good. Wow. Very good. Quick. think about being safe in the pool. Oh, yeah. Yeah. All right, board. We will now move to public comments. Do we have any public comments? No public comments. Okay. All right. Then we'll move

008to D1, the adoption of the revised policy 9200 and new policy 9271. And the chair will take a motion. Accept the motion to to approve the consent agenda as presented. This is the public hearing on the adoption of policy number two. Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we adopt the policy uh D1 adoption of a revised policy 9200 and new policy 9271 per Nola special update. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Any questions? All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I do that by roll call. Oh, we do. Yes, you're right. Policy. Yes, sir. Please. Okay, we will uh have a board attorney. He will call roll, please. Strong. District one. Yes. District two. Yay. District three. Yes. District four. Yes. District five. Yes. Okay.

009Passes unanimously. All right. We'll move to the consent agenda. And uh Miss Wagner, we'll start with you. Do you have anything to pull? I think just 71. Did we go through both of those? I thought we did them consistently. Who made the motion? David. I did. I think you made the motion. He read them both. I read them both. Yes, sir. I just want time to pull G forward to get Okay. All right. Miss Gillyard. Uh, Mrs. Pickkins. And I have the same one, so I'll let her pull it. All right. Mr. Buckles. I came in earlier this morning, met with the superintendent, and I came in a while ago, met with the superintendent, and I'm good. All right, Miss Pickkins. Um, F2. All right. And then I would like to pull I will pull

010G7. So, the chair will entertain a motion for the balance of the consent agenda. I'll offer a motion that we accept the consent agenda minus F2, G4, and G7. I have a motion. I'll second that. I have a motion and a second. Any questions? Any discussions? All in favor signifi signify by saying I. I. Motion carries. Miss Winehurst, are you available for You said F2G4. And what else? Uh G7. G7. Okay. Okay. Before I um go over the the Bloom board, I just want to kind of give you a little bit of an idea of what this is. It's it's something new. Um but I do want to give you a corrected um memorandum of understanding. Um I left off the words per year, which is really important. And so hopefully if y'all are good

011with this, we can just make an amendment on the approval of it to just add the words per year. Um, but I do have a copy of that if each one of you will just take one of those so that you have that and I have it highlighted um as to just the simple adding those two words in there. Um, so Bloomboard has actually been trying to um work with us for a while. They started out in Hernando County um when the state went through the um process of approving a teacher apprenticehship program. Um and so they've been working with Hernando County for a couple of years now. And what they basically do is they have partnered with Barry University and created this job embedded teacher program. And so if you want to think of

012it as like an apprentice program, um we're we're not using the apprentice certification. It's a little bit different. Um so basically what this is is um we meet with the administrator. We meet with a pair professional that has been recommended by the administrator who's wanting to become a teacher who already has an AA degree. And that um pair professional is going to have to have some experience with us because basically what's going to happen is if a school has a teacher vacancy or they have some vacancies that they know they're not going to be able to fill, they are going to um allow that pair professional to go into that teacher vacancy spot. So that that's the funding source for what I'm about to go over is that teacher vacancy. That pair professional will be

013partnered with a district mentor and someone at the school and they will be enrolled in a elementary education program through Barry University in their last two years, their major two years of the the degree and they will basically be the one in command of that classroom. They will not be the teacher of record. They'll have a teacher at the school that's still partnering up with them um as the teacher of record for the students, but they will be doing the lesson planning. and they will be doing the teaching along with that support from um a couple of the other staff members. It is all job embedded. So they take two classes at a time. The classes are seven weeks and everything that they're doing in that class is based on their lesson planning and their

014teaching that they're doing in the classroom. They have to video themselves as they're teaching. They upload that video and that's how they're assessed through this program. Um part of that partnership is because it is a recruitment tool. Um the way that it has worked out and and this does come a so they've taken some of what state statute did around the teacher apprenticeship program and and it's a way of working it for districts. Um we are responsible for some of their cost of tuition. And so that's what that $8,222 per year is but it's no more than that. So, Bloomboard has also um worked with NEFAC districts. Bradford is also using it and so is Nassau. So, the three of us are all going into this together. Um depending on the number of um participants

015that we have, that $8,222 could come down because the more we have participate in it, the more of a discount that we will get. As of right now, Middleton Bernie, Browning Pierce, and Jenkins Elementary all have pair professionals that the administrators have said, "Yes, this is a great candidate. They have AA degrees and they have a vacancy that they would like for that person to be a part of." In addition, um because there is going to be an additional amount of accountability on this pair professional, um one of the pieces in this um partnership program is that at the end of each semester, that pair professional will get a supplement of $3,250, which would total $7,500 for the year. So if you take the salary of a pair professional, the $8,222 and the $7,500, it's

016still less expensive than a teacher, but they're per they're working on we're working on bettering our employees, giving them an option to get a degree and it's helping with that um vacancy at some of our schools. So that's like a real quick summary of the program. um Hernando County um just graduated like 20 pair professionals into teachers this year through this program. It's been very successful there. Um and so we're excited to partner with them um along with Bradford and I I think it's great that Bradford and Nassau are also doing that. So we have three NEAC districts that are going to be able to work together and um just you know work through this whole process. So I have four pair of professionals right now that are ready to go as soon as we

017get a yes. Okay. Oh, here we are. I was just going to ask how is this similar or different than our para pros? So, um, a little program, right? So, the program because right now we have three other partnerships. We have a partnership with Grand Canyon University, we have a partnership with St. Leo, and we have a partnership with St. John's. So all of those have a little bit of a different um so Grand Canyon is totally online. They come out with an education studies degree. So it's a little bit of it's an alternative degree. St. John's you're going to class and you have more face toface. St. Leo is almost 100% online. So it really depends on what that person needs and what they're able to do. So with this because there's not additional

018coursework. I mean there's not additional classes. They have once a week that they have to do a um a synchronous class with Bloom with Barry University faculty and going over everything that they've done for the week. So it's like a virtual check-in and that's the only class time that they have that's outside of the school. So, um, some of our pair professionals who have family responsibilities or or just different reasons that it's hard for them to get to class or have a structured schedule where they have classwork and and they're taking four classes at a time. This is two classes at a time. So, it's just a different approach. This is not going to be for everyone, though. Um, I mean, we have pair professionals in our grow your own program that just graduated. Um,

019Mr. Buckle's granddaughter is one of them. She started as soon as she graduated from high school. there's no way she was ready to go into a classroom and take command of a class. So it dep it's just offering different programs based on the level of experience that pair professional has where that pair professional is at in their own education path. So it's just one more pathway that we are offering to our employees. The beauty of the pair to pro just had a question then I'll get you there. Um I it's only for elementary. So right now they have a degree in um elementary education. You can get a degree in your um early childhood which is prek to three and then you can get an ed you can get a degree in ESE which could

020be K12 and um but they have to have in order to do that they have to have classes that's 50% students with disabilities. Um, and so we thought that that would because Miss Taylor at Melon Learning Center, she was thinking like she has someone that she would love to be able to get into this program. Um, but they they can't do the Melon Learning Center because of the severity of the the disabilities there, their program doesn't doesn't fit for that. But if we had someone in a secondary school, um, now that they've added the ESE and they were teaching ESE classes, even if it was a self-contained at a comprehensive high school, that's not as severe as what we have at Melon Learning Center, they could also be a candidate. I just haven't had any

021yet. The beauty of the PAR Pro is that you you know your people and you can use them in a variety of methods a principal can. the only and I I I would think that Barry will be similar that a principal can't take a one of these people that were chosen and use them in some option that doesn't really fit with that is correct. They have to be committed. That's why the the administrator has to sign off and say yes I'm good with this because they cannot take that person out of that classroom. In addition, part of this agreement is the participants, they are signing an agreement that they are going to teach with us for five years because of the amount of money that we're investing into them. And if they do not um

022complete that five years of teaching, then they would have to pay us back based on a prrated amount on how much how much service they did give to us. Okay. The neat thing, it's like Tim Adams. He started with a a group of kids in preK and kindergarten in Crescent City, and he he followed them through right on through their junior high and at the high school years. And he he knows them. These young pair of pro people will know the families and the kids right on through for years. And and it's people who are here. Um it's not going to be someone that we hire right off as a pair of professional. they already have to be here and established and show that administrator that yes, I am capable of going in and handling

023a classroom and teaching with some support from a mentor. Your grow your own kind. It's just one more grow your own pathway. I feel like the more opportunities we have, the more um individuals that we can get into those programs. And uh ultimately we we want to we want to develop teachers but we also want to give opportunities for our employees to make more of themselves. Very good. Okay. All right. Great. Any other question? Any other questions board? So the only thing with that would be um and Mr. Holmes I think if we they just said that they would approve it with the amend with the change of $8,222 per year so that it doesn't look like that's because it's a two-year program. So over the two years it's $16,444. I just want to make

024sure we can throw make sure that that is very clear that that is a per year cost. Motion should so state that you've moved to approve correction or modification that uh the stated sum in paragraph or the first bullet point I guess it is is a per year sum. Okay. I also like the fact that NEAC is involved and sometimes we have teachers that go to other NEPAC. Well, if they leave and go somewhere else, they're still owing us. But I mean, they'll still But they'll still be involved at the very university if they go to the That is correct. That is correct. Okay. I'll I'll make a motion that we I just have one quick question. All All the universities are certified, correct? I mean, Barry University is an approved Florida program. So when

025they they leave this program, they will leave with a bachelor's degree in elementary education or early childhood or ESE, whichever pathway they choose, and they will walk away with a reading endorsement, a professional certificate because they have to pass all of their exams. So it is an it is a true approved state of Florida program and and Barry University worked really hard on getting that. And so that's why I felt more comfortable going with them and exploring it once they brought Barry on and had the state approved program. Okay. Um, Miss Pickkins, you're recognized for a motion. I'd like to make a motion that we approve consent agenda item F2, the Bloomberg Educator Advancement Program contract, uh, with the correction in the first bullet of $8,222 per year. Second. All right, I have a motion

026and a second on F2. Uh, no discussion, no questions. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I I opposed like sign. Motion carries unanimously. All right. We will now move to G4. Yeah. Yes. Yes. I just had um a couple of questions on this as far as um it's an extension and renewal agreement between our district and FBMC benefits management. I was just kind of trying to do some digging as to who they are, what they do for us. Um, and their website was not very um helpful. So, if you can enlighten me. So, FBMC is a fringe benefit management company. um they they primarily deal with retirees whose benefits uh let's say we change a company um and there the cost changes a little bit the FBMC will help manage those costs

027for them. Um we've been with them what this looks like will be going on the 10th year. Um if in this contract specifically there's a three-year term with three one-year renewals. Talking to Tammy, it sounds like we've been through that part once before and now we're going through through it again. So, now that we're in the one-year parts, this is something that you guys will see every year for the next, well, including this year, three years. Um, unless we decide before then to go back out to a shop. And so, you said it's when explain that. Um, so if if the cost to a retiree change for for what? For any benefit. Um, this one specifically uh says core life benefits. uh as far as the service agreement we're dealing with here. So if the

028cost to a retirey changes with that, FBMC helps them manage that cost. So when we went with when we first started to go with them, they collect life insurance benefits. Instead of the employees, retirees having to come in and pay me with a monthly check, they're able to pull it out of their checking account or their savings account. And the life insurance is right at $100 a month. This company can pull it out and pays directly that way. Yes. And then they send me a roster with a check once a month. Yeah. Only if we approve it. We're We've been with them for 10 years. And it's nice because when we had the rate increase, the employees used to have to come in pay yearly one lump sum. This way they could pay it monthly

029and it's not as hard on them. And this is strictly on retirees. Yes. And that's group life. It's just the life insurance. Just the life insurance. Okay. That answered my question. All right. Any other questions or discussion? You and Jonathan. Good. All right. Chair will entertain a motion. I would uh make a motion that we adopt the extension and renewal agreement for FBMC benefits management under F4. Do I have a second? G4. Oh, I'm sorry. G4. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I post like sign. Motion carries unanimously. Okay. If you will, those of us that have them go to G7 and look under C. So, I had been looking at this and and also looking u at our our last year's budget and then our

030our budgets over the last three years and trying to understand um you know how the justification for these salary ranges and you know uh trying to understand you know without having a a job description in front of me and there was in that led to a a whole host of questions that that I had that I feel like um we need to be answered. I mean, what they're proposing here today or what's being proposed would be a 8.8% increase in categories four and five under the support personnel salary schedule. And if you look at the that that schedule and if you look at the the support person personnel salary schedule for the individual positions, you're talking about positions at 152,000, 140,000, 138,000. And and so you're you're talking about a significant amount of money. And

031then if you look even further, and you know, I'd encourage you and I'd be happy to provide you the copy that Jonathan provided me several weeks ago. um that I don't think the job descriptions all match the the duties and responsibilities and that the job uh description should be modified. As an example, we have 20 administrative assistants in the support personnel non-union non bargaining and five executive secretaries. The average salary for administrative assistant currently employed today based on these numbers and I don't know you know who they all are and it's not it's not about that is $65,000 a year. The average salary for an executive secretary is $56,000 a year. The average salary for a teacher, correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Modal, is about $48,000 a year. Is that right or is it

032that's beginning salary? Okay, beginning salary. So, and then if you look at the corresponding um table that has the uh instructional um with you know a teacher with 20 years is like can go up to I think 68,000. Anyway, I I believe there are inequities there and I think that um it's important and we're required under statute to do this review. And let me just point that out to you. Under Florida statute 1012.22, the legislature has designated that public school personnel powers and duties of the district school board. The district school board shall not may, not will, not can, but shall designate positions to be filled, prescribe qualifications for those positions and provide for the appointment, compensation, promotion, suspension, and dismissal of employees as follows, subject to the requirements of this chapter. And that goes

033on, you know, for the chapters. Now, if you have never read this, and shame on me, I didn't read it until, you know, this week or last week. Um, we've been derelictked in our responsibilities and positions, new positions like new assistant superintendent, new director of uh of secondary education, all those all those job descriptions are are supposed to come for us for approval. And then the superintendent is supposed to bring those positions to the board for approval. the board can eject and it's all in here or they can just approve it. That hadn't been being done. And so I I'm have a lot of consternation. So what I'm going to do because I don't want to spend an hour and a half or two hours today going through all the questions and concerns that I

034have. I'm going to pass the gavl to Vice Chairman Wagner. I'm going to make a motion. So, I'll move that we approve G7 uh items A, B, D, F, and G. The second part of the motion is that the board hire a personnel management consulting firm to do both a salary and manpower study, specifically looking at job descriptions and report their findings back to the board prior to us taking this this taking G7 uh C up again. And that and then the third part of that motion is that we do a workshop to discuss all of this information uh that I've discussed on you know just the tip of the iceberg here uh on that as it relates to um G7 uh that particular item. So that I don't know maybe y'all understand and have

035are very clear about this but I can tell you I'm not and I don't think we're following the statutes and you know Mr. Holmes. I had a discussion with him. Do you agree with my interpretation of that statute? Well, at your request, I reviewed the statute and I can advise that the statute is current uh through the 25th session. And um there was a slight change in the 25 session that's not does it's not relevant nor does it pertain to what you've cited and you've correctly quoted the statute um as to duties of the of the of the board. I mean it's statutes um you can pull it up um online and um or look in a statute book and uh what you quoted was is accurate. That's a correct statement of the law as

036it exists today. What what my concern is board is that the base salary for the superintendent for the county our size is $161,000. Now, you know, there's add-ons for that based on years of experience and, you know, masters, doctor degrees, and all that kind of stuff, but the $170,000 is $9,000 more than what the base salary the superintendent made. And that would apply to a whole host of people and it would be at the discretion of the superintendent, although it should come to us for approval. But, you know, that that that I think that and for whatever reason, you know, that hasn't been done. I mean, basically, we've been told, you know, what the position was going to be filled. And, you know, I don't I don't remember voting on any um executive or support

037personnel position. And if you look at it and do the comparison to our teachers and and to you know principles and assistant principles and the and the and the instructional side just my view and my experience and personnel and man personnel management business management there they're there they're there are serious inequities now I do think that there are jobs that are being done that clearly qualify for those salaries but those job descriptions need to reflect the duties and responsibilities and so that that everything matches up and so that we're doing our job. But, you know, it's not something that we, you know, can do today. But I do think it's it's important as we move forward that we're doing what we're supposed to be doing and especially in light of, you know, our budget, our

038taxes, you know, this year there we're not going to go to the roll back rate. There'll be an increase in taxes based on just that. the there'll be a doubling of the taxes, you know, because, you know, I just signed $200 million or hundred million dollar bond issues. Um, and so I would like to look at, you know, positions too to see if there's duplication, if there's some way that we can consolidate and some way that we can, you know, to do that. And so, Mr. Chair, could I ask Miss Winers to come in and just make a a comment about the inequity? I just want to make sure for the record that we state this clearly and then we can move on. Sure. So, um I I'm doing I was a math teacher and

039so I I I like working with simple math when I'm trying to explain it and I don't have a board to break it all down. So, if you have a an administrative assistant, executive secretary, I I took in between that and I went with $60,000. Okay. They are a 261day employee and they work eight hours a day. So if you calculate that down to an hourly rate, that is $28.74 an hour. A60,00 require any formal education, no college and no certifications. Correct. Um they have no a teacher. Uh let's say it's a $60,000 teacher. You referred to some of the ones that I mean you you referred to a 20 year experience one which makes more than that. A $60,000 teacher, 196 days, 7 and a half hours a day, makes $42.82 an hour. So

040sometimes I think it's really important for me to state on the record that we have to look at the number of hours and the number of days and not just an overall salary um with some of our positions. Um so that you're looking at an hourly rate and not just an overall salary. Um because sometimes it does look like there's an inequity, but when you start breaking it down in that form, you see that if you really want to compare, you have to break it down to the smallest amount and compare it hour to hour, not yearly to yearly because the contracts are different. So I just wanted to state that. And one of the things that we are working on is um and this has been just something that has taken place over years

041and years and years and years um is we are working on we are working on updating um job descriptions so that um on the support salary locator um we are very we are going to be very specific about who is a one so that they're anyone in an executive secretary and I'm just giving examples just working on this to make sure it's all cleared up. Executive secretaries, route coordinators, specialist, student success mentors. Um they all of those would be a one right now. Some executive secretaries, some administrative assistants. It's just gotten a little through the years of this person updating a job description and this person. So we are working on making some consistent changes across the board on that support salary locator so that whatever that title is any person who has that title

042is within that salary locator. You can hold that train of thought just a second. Yes sir. I I did meet with superintendent prior to the meeting and part of our conversation had to do with what happens if the legislature does this or does that and it had to deal with his power as a superintendent and unless Florida statutes has changed he has full authority to give other duties as assigned by the superintendent depending on who it is and that's one question I asked about the uh Barry University comment on you know what if a princip decided to move them and you know do something but you know I understand where Phil's coming from but it uh I've been through it before having said over there where superintendent sits it's not uncommon to have members of

043the public come in and raise these same kind of questions and concerns but also the superintendent does unless Florida statutes have changed and Mr. Holmes can I I'm not reading the book, but I can look it up, but I I know that it's it's been traditionally other duties as assigned by the superintendent. So, they these people may be carrying a load that nobody really understands and and what they're doing. And like you said it and I'm and I'm not trying to blanket right the issue that we're paying maybe paying too much money here or there but part of our our comment had to do he's prepared if to take action if we go into some type of session that that the state forces us into. So I mean it's not that Rick's doing this in

044a vacuum and I'm not sitting here to take up for Rick. And I just wanted to put that on record. If we're comparing, I wanted to break it down to the hour because contracts are different and hour and number of hours and number of days are different for different people. So when my mother taught, she spent hours after school and on weekends. So you're saying now they don't take any work home. They never work on a weekend or after school. I'm not saying that. And I'm not saying that administrative assistants don't stay beyond 4:30 every afternoon. Also, okay. I I think so I mean I clambering to get into administration and coming down and and especially coming down here we had 10 teachers lead Kelly Smith last week resign. Why? You know there's a lot

045of reasons for that. Okay. Well and and we believe that we we have a motion but we need a second. We are discussing it without any second. Okay. So we had a motion by by uh Mr. Larry. Um and we need a sec. Anyone want to give a second for discussion? Right. Yes, I would give a second for discussion like what we just had. Okay. So, now we're open to do it. Now, the person you recommended, it seems like Mrs. Whitehurst has done what you what we would be paying a person to do. If if I heard you correctly, you said let's hire a person or bring in a person which is going to be money uh to do what she has done has taken everything and breaking it broken it down by by the

046hours. So you know would that be necessary here's and Mr. I want to hear it. When our discussion earlier today, you know, he talked about what the city did with their salary study. Correct, Don? And I did. And um so they hired a firm and this is common place for both public and private sector entities that the firm's not going to rewrite every job description. They're going to look at the job description and look at the salary and then compare us with other count other school districts and maybe even some private sector things because that would apply from the certainly from the business end of the district and then they're going to make recommendations. I mean this may be low. I don't think so. But but um it certainly is um to me as I

047look at it and I mean I've studied you know I didn't have anything to do but prop my foot up for nine days now and so you know um I had surgery on my foot um so I've really looked at this very closely and um you know but to be fair I think it that we need an independent and I don't think this is you're not talking about a tremendous amount of expense because you're really not only looking at you know um the non-instructional support staff you know side of it which is somewhere around 3.5 or 4 million with with you know bene salary and benefits but you know I I'm all for you know u the teachers the pair professionals the guidance counselors the um mental health counselors the principles and the vice and

048assistant principles are the heart and soul of the district to me and that we need to be sure that there's parity in my opinion par with salaries and jobs and descriptions and all that and and granted you know um the teachers do work a seven half hour day but I can tell you um how many teachers have you seen or principles that have left the district and I'll give you two Mr. Helms and Mr. South both left went completely to completely different jobs you know and it wasn't because I don't think they were you know it wasn't about all the money it was about the stress and the things that they have to do you know teachers same way you all I mean three y'all taught taught school so you know I mean I saw

049my mother you know go through it for 25 years um so all I'm saying is let's let's look at this come back, discuss it, you know, workshop it so we all understand and we all are clear that we're following the statute in in in the process that we're that we're we took an oath of office to do and that's all I'm saying. Well, even even if we did, the superintendent I believe still by statute has the authority to not not according to the make other duties as assigned. Well, that that's fine. He can do that, but he still has to Well, they can they bring it to the board to be paid for. Yes. Yeah. So, so, so again, Phil Chairman, uh, Larry brought this to my attention today. Um, and I verified the statute

050was current. And now that it's been brought to my attention, I do want to mention it to you, and I'm not talking about the salary study. It is true. The city did a salary study u and a survey in an effort to understand where we compared to other similarly situated municipalities. Similarly situated meaning approximate size of of of town, approximate tax base, approximate uh size of of departments so that we could understand because uh otherwise it's hard to compare what a public works supervisor or superintendent in Putnham is making or city of Pala is making with a Jacksonville or may maybe it's Madison or wherever. So, it was necessary that we try to do that so that we could understand how to respond to our employees who were asking for payraises and things of that

051nature. That's it worked well for us. It was eye opening, but I mean that's kind of something that I think is totally discretionary and and a matter of policy with y'all. what I was uh what I do see here and and I'd like to um take a look at this and maybe give a call to a couple of other um school district just to make sure that that um I don't see how it is is subject to being misread really but it does say uh that the school board shall designate designate positions to be filled prescribe prescribed qualifications for those positions and provide for the appointment, compensation, promotion, suspension, and dismissal of employees as follows. And then it goes down to say the district school board shall act upon written recommendations submitted by the district

052school superintendent for positions to be filled for minimum qualifications for personnel and for the various positions and for the persons nominated to fill such positions. The district school board may reject for good cause any employee nominated. it goes forward um to lay out quite a bit of information. Um for instance, uh the district school board's decision to reject the person's nomination does not give that person a right of action to sue over the rejection and may not be used as a cause of action by the nominated employee. It gives times to act on the nominations and so forth. So there's a there's there's a quite a bit of guidelines specified here. And again, I wanted to make sure it was current law. Uh because I wanted to make sure we weren't working with something that

053was old. It is current. I just looked it up in your in what I've got here in front of me as the Florida school laws 24 edition. And it's cited there, too. If any of you want to write it, look it up. And you can Google this stuff now. About as easy as I can look it up in law book, but it's 1012.22. Um, and so now the formality of that, I mean, you know, I guess that's where uh I need more understanding because um I guess I'm not saying that this this isn't being followed. I'm not making that allegation. I'm simply saying there is a high a a process specified but it may be that process is being complied with in some of the submittals that are being provided. It's just that my only

054concern is as the board attorney is as as I read that and as a lawyer you learn pretty quickly there's a huge difference between may and shall in legislaturator's edicts and this one appears to impose directly an obligation on the school board in in the matters that I just mentioned. You're free to Google it yourself and take a look at it. It's not super stilted or complicated language. is pretty well set forth there. So, I could get with Miss Whitehurst and and see, you know, if they are they're following this process in a way that maybe it's on the consent agenda and I just haven't specifically noted it. I'm not again I'm not saying they're not following it. I'm just saying that the statute does require that the board uh act out act on those

055responsibilities. And if I may, and you may know this having gone through the that type of process, if we do a study and they come, say they did come back and say, um, our salaries are too high, what is the actual resolution to that? Do we literally just cut people's salaries that are already employed or I think you have options. I mean, for instance, attrition will take care of some of it, but the main thing is we established, and I'm not trying to tell you this is the only way to do things. I mean, this was kind of a uh take a look and go step by-step process for me as well. I just knew that we needed to establish some some way that I could avoid being arbitrary in deciding who got raises and

056who didn't and what the caps of certain uh uh classifications were. So we established uh categories, job descriptions and categories. Actually they helped greatly in doing that based upon you know the duties actual duties that that people were performing. And then we basically established uh seniority based upon years of of service. And then we had pay billlets for each of those you know those categories of years of service just as an example 1 to three 3 to six or four to six you know 7 to nine and that and we gave a beginning and an ending range. It wasn't an absolute number. You still had, you know, flexibility there. But it allowed me and we had what 200 employees or whatever it was over there to, you know, to have some methodology in my mind

057as to how we were paying different people in different jobs based upon job classifications that the firm helped us with based upon their survey of other other municipalities. So, I'm not saying that's the pattern everybody should follow. I'm just saying I needed some some way of bringing some order in my mind to our salary structure at the city. But that's not necessarily I still believe even if you did a study like that, which you know you can do, but I still believe the superintendent has the authority under statute to place people in positions or assign them duties that he feels is is important. I mean, other duties as assigned was always that way because I've had I've had board rooms fill up with people mad because I had to move a a principal and make

058them an assistant principal or or a guidance counselor. Paid them the same salary, but they fulfilled other positions until I, you know, became a better time. You know, we don't know what's going to happen in the legislature. He may come to us, he may come to us and say, "We got I'm going to roll 10 people." Well, you know, nine out of 10 of them say, "Well, I'm going to take it for the team. Next year they'll put me back." I'm not challenging that at all, Mr. Buckles. I'm just I was a bit surprised myself to read the certainty of the edict, which says the board shall designate positions to be filled, prescribe qualifications for those positions, meaning you're supposed to be approving job descriptions, and provide for the appointment, compensation, promotion, suspension, and dismissal

059of employees as follows. Um, and then it gives those little guidelines I talked about. So, it does appear that you have a statutory role in the process. Now, how that's I'm not again saying it's not being filled. I that's not being complied with. I'm just saying that I'd be remiss in advising you if I didn't say there is a mandate that says you're to play a role. Much of this is is supposed to be us passing the recommendations of the superintendent. superintendent recommends states that sorry so madam chair chairman discussion so just in the last couple months um there's been a new assistant superintendent position created uh an an addition of uh uh director of secondary education added to an existing uh director of of CTE uh we're advertising which I didn't find out until

060this week for a purchasing director I've not seen any job description. Um, all these things were required in this paragraph and you know maybe past boards didn't care. They just let the superintendent do it. I don't know. But I can tell you I'm sorry. We do not have a director of would you say elementary and secondary? Secondary education. No, we don't have one of those. I don't know where that's Well, Susan told me yesterday that because I asked her do what what what positions are that? you know where's the so we don't have that position senior okay well at any rate um so my my goal is for the board to follow in this and for us to to do our statutory responsibility and that is reviewing job descriptions that is reviewing appointments and positions

061and assuring that the salaries you know are consistent with those those jobs and you know $170,000 a here when when the base salary for superintendent is 161. You know, I don't know if that jumped out at y'all, but man, I tell you what, I my poor foot, you know, jumped out. I just want to clarify that we did not create another assistant superintendent. That position, we've always had three assistant superendent, but the assistant superintendent was over finance and that there wasn't you had a you also had a personnel. Yeah, we just we changed we changed the uh the role of that actually to be transparent. Miss Whitehurst is now assistant superintendent of business services. Correct. Miss Whitehurst has a a background or degree in finance or or accounting or that. So, she's qualified to be

062to supervise our CFO and our our finance director who's a CPA. That That's what you're saying. I'll let you uh speak to that. Okay. So, a couple of a couple of points. We do not have any jobs where there is a job description that has never been board approved. So, we have board we have job descriptions that have been board approved several years ago that have not been used, but it's there's still a board approval on it. And because there's a board approval on it, we can bring it back out. So, director of purchasing, there was a job description of a director of purchasing. It was not used for several years. So that one did not require job descript uh a board approval because it was already board approved. There are certain things on a

063been vacant for two and a half years and we've been operating finally with a with a coordinator and a specialist because he's assigned other the duties to ask you Mr. Well, I'm just let telling you how it works. So, um, in regards to job descriptions, there are parts of a job description that do not have to be board approved. If it is a simple um, district title change or if it is adding a responsibility and it doesn't do anything, changing their um, Jackie, you can help me out because I always get it mixed up. Um, so we have a crosswalk from DOE that we have to use and that gives us job code numbers. It gives us um classes. It gives us um that and the job classifications has to do with what department they're

064working in, what level they are. Um, so all of that has to be board approved. But if it is a so a district can make their title. So because a lot of times the crosswalk will have things that we don't call them here. So I will use an example. Um the crosswalk with DOE actually says staff services not human resources. So but a district has like we can call it human resources. That doesn't have to be board approved because it's not about the EEO the EEO line. It's not about the job classification. It's not about the job code number. Um, it's not about anything to do with qualifications. So, those are certain things in those job descriptions. Anytime any of that has changed, I can promise you all of that has come and we have

065job descriptions that we have that have been board approved. Sometimes we will not have those positions and then we determine that there is a need for it and we will bring it back out. Um, so director of purchasing, no, we have not had a director of purchasing. We have had a coordinator, but at this point with three constructions going on and and two more about to go online, the bond the the amount of purchasing that is happening, the amount of RFPs and RFQS that are having to go out, there's been a lot of people in that office who are having to do a lot more work and it is creating some manpower issues. And so that was where that conversation came and the decision was made to bring that director of purchasing position back. It

066didn't come to you as a job description because it did not have to be approved. It was already approved. My background, I am not doing the accounting piece. I am the leadership oversight. I have since 2005. I have been in an an administrative position. I have supervised employees since 2005. I also have a degree in mathematics. I have managed budgets. So I do understand the concept of finance. I'm not doing the financial bookkeeping pieces. I'm not creating the budget. I am doing oversight of leadership and that aspect as the assistant superintendent of business operations. Okay. And so that's a that's it may not it may have been a superend assistant superintendent position but it's a new position with different requirements. So you're doing you know human resources your priority. You're just overseeing or managing these

067people or providing leadership. The way I read this definition it it says designate positions to be filled prescribe qualifications for those positions and provide for the appointment compensation promotion da da da. that that's a board responsibility that so I was on the personnel matters as that position and that was approved. So you did approve me to be in that position. The job description for that assistant superintendent of operations was already there. We changed some of the responsibilities. That does not have to be board approved. Okay. Well, I guess we'll Mr. Mr. Holmes and I'll be we'll research this out. Anyway, um I think we discussed this enough, but and I really didn't want to get in the weeds on this today. I still think we need a workshop. I still would like to on uh

068G7C. Um I still would like for the board to hire personnel consulting firm or get RF RFPs request a proposal to do the salary and manpower study. Miss Whitehurst may be absolutely right and uh that would come out in a study by a farm that does that just like the one did for the city and they do them for water management district and everybody else and then I'd like those findings presented to the board before we have a workshop on G7H and that's the motion and seconded. So the we can I just have a point of clarification. So the items under G7 c can you tell me the the letters that Oh yes, just I think it's just C. Everything under C. Okay. What what did you just say about H? Did you say something?

069Oh, I'm sorry. Did I I didn't mean to say H. Let me get to it here. It's A through H and he designated C right as so yeah. Okay. My motion was to approve G7 A B D E F G and H and okay not and not approve C until we have these things personnel management study, salary study and a workshop and then we can bring it back and then we can approve that and that could happen within 60 days easily way before the budget. I mean before we get into the new budget here. So then we would for clarification as well. Are you done Mrs. P? I'm still wondering. No, go ahead. Go ahead. Okay. So then uh in that time frame we we have to first of all appoint well decide first to

070to go that route and then to to uh get bids I guess from a firm that would do that study. Correct. And then we have to make sure we have the finances because monies will have to be moved to to cover this cost uh of of paying that firm. And then once the firm is is designated, that firm then will do do their what we have hired them to do. They will come back, give us the information via a a a workshop. Correct. And then at that point, it will go back on the agenda item C. It'll be labeled something differently for approval in whatever you know whatever we ever decide to do in the workshop to you know maybe it stays exactly the way it is maybe it changes maybe it goes up maybe

071it goes down uh maybe you know uh as as Miss Whitehurst has said they're reviewing you know rewriting job descriptions I mean to me administrative assistant is a a senior level clerical position not a an accounting clerk I mean that's very different jobs. So, you know, I just want to make sure we're apples to apples on jobs, salaries, and parity. And so, we're not we're not talking about our instructional non-instructional. We're simply talking uh upper management more or less. Well, I mean, support personnel. Okay. Yeah. Even if you do that and the legislature cuts us money or god forbid something happens and we we come up short a million or$2 million dollars, the superintendent still has the authority to roll people where he where he decides. And you know, it's others duties as assigned. And

072he can take somebody that's an existing assistant superintendent and place them in a school as a principal or a guidance counselor as long as he doesn't lower their salary to fill in that position and save $150 or $200,000 in salary and benefits in case he had to roll 10 or 15 people throughout the district. I I just don't want to see us I' I've been through so many of these over the years and that's probably not a good thing because I've seen the board board meetings, you know, digress and and I think your your efforts are well intended. I just don't want to see us do something that's going to create a problem. Um if if I can just make a comment cuz having listened to this I I didn't get any impression that he's

073saying that the superintendent does not have that ability to move somebody. It sounds more like he's looking at individual positions and their job descriptions and that we are supposed to be whether we are or not um uh approving those. So I don't think that would relate to whether Dr. could could say, you know, you need to be over here because that's that is his job the ship. If something's if somebody's titled an administrative assistant or an assistant superintendent and you put them in a position that doesn't hold that title, you know, they're you going to come back to the board and and go through this all over again and then want to reduce the salary. I mean I just well I think if it fell under his purview of being able to place people which

074I think he does have a lot of but I mean are you every every salary every job description that we have has come before this board to be voted on over the over the years. It's just that's the way that's the law. It reads that way. Now whether it was not scrutinized with a magnifying glass or microscope, I mean I have seen board members and and superintendents over the years that had an action to ground with somebody that would bring up a particular person's salary in a meeting and just beat it to death. I mean really just absolutely ad nauseium. And it I'm not saying that's what's happening here and and there's a lot of merit to what what uh our chairman is saying. That's just I don't know how much you going to pay

075a firm to come in here. That's was going to be my question. Do we have a ballpark figure of what this even cost? I mean I think that would make a a difference for me. Um and if it's two or $3,000 that's one thing. If it's going to be 25 to50,000 it's 2 or 3,000 if they do a job that's worth having. And if it's if they're not going to do a job worth having, then you're wasting your money and paying them two or three thousand. So, I mean, it's pretty comprehensive thing that they do. I don't want to tell you a number because I'll it's been whatever. I left them at 23 and I think I did that salary study in 22 or 21, but um you know, we it was it was in

076excess of $35,000. I know that. And that was for 200 people though. That was that was that was to revamp our entire to give us a suggestion on revamping our entire um employee structure with to to create uh stages of of in different positions with automatic uh elevation to the next stage based upon years of service with uh uh appropriate uh reviews from from your supervisors. I mean, it was it was a comprehensive re revamp because we'd grown to the point where the old style of of just sort of not having rules, in my opinion, was leading to loss, inconsistent results with different employees in different locations. So, it was it was a it was a pretty significant undertaking. Took several months. Yeah. To me, this is a narrow scope. I mean, we're looking at

077salaries to compare to see if we're if we're high, low, right on track, you know, in comparison. I mean, we're a school district that's had declining enrollment for 15 years. We're closing consolidating schools. Um, you know, it's it's a very different scenario than some of these school the other schools that are growing five and 10% a year or more, building new schools. you know, I mean, the workload is significantly increasing and all I'm asking is just for a a very narrow scope to look at salaries and and and job descriptions to make sure that we're all on the same page. So, there's a strong Can I speak to that? Yes. First of all, I just want to say that um I would appreciate if we had this conversation ahead of time because what I would

078have done is what I'm going to recommend right now is that you come in and meet with Miss uh Whitehurst and let's go over that because when we make these decisions, we actually we actually look at area uh local districts that are our size and we try to be in line with that and and I would just suggest to this board before we go spend a substantial amount of money in a in a very uncertain budget time is I would just u recommend that um Mr. Liry come in and meet with us and let's sit down and look at it and if for some reason you're not you feel like there needs to be more study then we can come back to the board. Well, but I think this I think that'd be better done

079in a board workshop. I'm I mean I may be the only one but I think those types of things need to be communicated and understood by the entire board. So we can do a workshop with Miss Whitehurst and come in and have all the explanations. We can have our questions to her prior to the workshop and then we can go from there and if all the questions are answered and we think everything is, you know, perfect and sound then we don't do a study and we go our we just keep see back and approve. Mr. Superintendent, nothing perfect. Um do you have a date or a time that we could possibly do that? Mrs. Whitehurst. Well, we already have we already have uh some workshops scheduled and uh Susan's not here right now, but we'd

080have to look. This is this is a lot on our plate for the 26. So, we need to schedule probably another day, the 26th. We have one coming. We have a a school choice one coming up, a workshop, a budget workshop, and a special board meeting all on June 26, next Thursday. Next Thursday. And I was going to remind you about that. Glad you did. Yeah. You know, I've been in workshops and and board meetings where people said this administrator, that administrator needs to live in Putnham County if they're going to draw a salary here and they can't live across county lines. And then you wind up cutting yourself out of good people that you've they may have grown up here and gone to school here and been a product of Putinham. But I uh

081I just I think we got other stuff to really go on right now to to worry with. But if the consensus of the board is to have a workshop, then I would ask that we let Miss Michael um get with you and look at my calendar and everything and and schedule that. But again, that needs to be the consensus of the board and all that. But I'm just making a comment. Well, I have it in my motion. So, and I'm happy to take out I think we need to change the motion. That would be my recommendation. But before um we do that, I would just like to reiterate what Mr. Buckles said about the the job descriptions. We have approved them. They are written in our consent agenda. We we didn't construct the the description.

082Um and but we approved it. And so I I just want to say that it's not like we've been putting people in positions that we didn't approve because we did approve and if you had a question on it, all you have to do is call Miss Whitehurst. She calls me back like right away. And so so I, you know, I I'm not, you know, I'm not trying to single out anybody or or ask to grind or anything else. I'm just saying when I read this statute and I should have read it two years ago, I was just flabbergasted, okay? Because I don't think we've been doing this. Now, maybe job descriptions were were approved in by previous boards, but if the duties and responsibilities of that job change, you need a new job description and

083that would have to be approved by us. I mean, you know, uh, so what I I I'll tell you what, I'll amend my motion. I will amend my motion to approve G7 AB DF and H. Um and that the board set a workshop with the human resources or assistant superintendent for human business management um and have questions sort of prior to the workshop to answer with respect to salaries and job descriptions. That's my motion. I would second. And so you've taken the date out just when we can get one. Consulting firm out. Consulting. Okay. All right. I'll second that. All right. We have a motion by Mr. Liry uh to approve G7. You said AB D AB. I think it's ABD E F G and H. G and H. Correct. Yeah. Um just leaving out

084C so that they can move forward with that. Okay. So we can move forward to have a workshop. We have a second. Just by miss um all in favor then say I I nay. And I say I'll say why. I'm saying nay because the superintendent has the authority to make these recommendations to us. And the easy thing to do is just say yay. But having done what he's done, it this could digress into him having to hire his own personal attorney and and and deal with the board. I've been through it before and it just I don't think it's since the board's been approving these job descriptions, salaries all along. I I don't know, maybe it won't hurt to look at it, but I just I just think that we got a lot of other

085things to worry about about right now than that. But if if I could just make one last comment regarding that. I you know I this is the the first I've heard of it too and I I believe we have seen some job descriptions come through. I don't think it's ever a bad idea to just look at something uh with maybe some uh fresh ideas. Um but I I'm I'm happier to have a workshop personally um so that the board can look at things and have some more input um with some preparation and then you know we can we can make that decision moving forward um but I don't I don't think it ever hurts to uh look closely at any issue that's before the board especially to do with financial and for further clarification Mrs.

086Whitehurst will be the one that will break it down just to show us the explanation she gave up there was thorough. I'm I'm asking is that what we're talking about? So where the workshop so so and compare you know they've compared salaries for other school districts our size and the same thing. I'd like to see bring those in. I'd like to see that information. Okay. I'll ask Miss Michael to set up the date. Okay. Okay. And she's got everybody's calendar. All right. Thank you. All right. So, and let me let me Can I just mention one other thing? Um, because we do have the 26th kind of blocked out, it would not bother me to have that workshop on that day, too, just because as summer goes, then things, you know, I I kind of

087like having them all on the 26, unless it would just be too much if they could get the information ready. I mean, I don't want to put a strain on this on the staff. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I'm I'm I'm open, you know. I Well, let me just say I have a NE effect board of directors meeting. Is that right, Shane? And and that that's normally scheduled till 1 and so it starts at 1:30. So, if we added another one, I'm just showing you 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30. So, we need to do one schedule it for probably 4:30 if you want to do that many. I cannot have all of that ready by next week. Okay. Oh, okay. So, all right. And that wasn't there. On the 26th, we have a workshop at 1:30,

0882:30 and a board meeting at 3:30. A special board meeting at 3:30. Okay. Which I was going to remind you about it and during my comments. And so, we're to be here at 1:30. Yes, ma'am. 1:30 on the 26th. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thanks. I put 3:30. So said that I think I've got it too much of a turn around right now. So what we'll get with you and we'll consult with Miss Whitehurst and find out an appropriate time. We've got till August with from a budget standpoint. So um and let me just address the the superintendent's, you know, concern that I didn't come and he's right, but he was out all last week. I had surgery. He and I both have been dealing with the same issue that's uh another matter that's uh uh created

089a lot of work and and research for for us and and and meetings. Um so um that's why I hadn't had the opportunity and I really didn't want to get in the weeds on this like we did today. I just you know thought that it was the appropriate thing to do. But um at any rate, all right. Well, we'll move forward and we'll let Miss Michael uh get it reach out to us and figure out when we can do that workshop and give White and her staff plenty of time to put the information together. All right, let's move on. We are finished with the consent agenda. So, let's move to um our emergency. So, I'll call the board more meeting to close and open up. Mr. Chair, can I point out to you? Yes, sir.

090And I think I mentioned I just for clarification, we're going to pull Oh, that's right. Pool number L5, right? Until the next board meeting. Yeah. L5 will be pulled or continued until the next board meeting on June the 26th. Yes, sir. Okay. All right. So, well, let me get back when not sure if we're going to do it on the 26th or the 8th. Okay. So, the next regular board, the next All right. Unless, but we'll put it on the agenda if it's if it's during a special one, we'll put it on the agenda. Right. Very good. Um, so L1 uh underneath emergency item uh better me productions agreement board will entertain a motion or discussion. For a motion that we accept item L1, NE effect, better me productions agreement, justification, explanation, time sensitive. Second.

091I have a motion and second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion carries. L2 defect mutual general release. I'll offer a motion that we accept L2 the neck mutual general release. Tim Clue justification explanation time sensed. Second motion. Have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion carries unanimously. Move to three. NEAC lease agreement with Columbia School District. Mr. Chair, for a motion that we accept NEAC lease agreement, Colombia uh County School District. All right. I have a motion. I'll second it. All right. Have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion carries unanimously. Uh four additional hours under the SLP for June 2025. Mr. Chairman, I have motion that we accept uh item L4, additional hours SLP, June 2025,

092justification, explanation, time sensitive. Second. I have a motion to second on four. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion carries unanimously. And our last one, the 2526 YD contract. Oh, that one's we're pulled. That's pulled. Okay. So, I call we'll uh adjourn the emergency meeting and go back into our regular meeting and um we'll go to unfinished business M1 and two and and of course we've approved the least. So, I think these are moot points. I I believe we could just take no action on them and and have them taken off the the agenda. Do they need to actually, Mr. U attorney, do they actually need to take action or what would be your recommendation on that as far as pulled up? So, um, the former interior the parking lot. Yeah, it won't

093hurt to make a motion, will it? No, I think probably need to clean it up. I'll make a motion that we, uh, approve M not approved. Excuse me. This we not approve M1. I make a motion we not approve M1. I have a motion. Buck Development Boulevard Marathon Health Clinic interior. It's it's it's on the agenda. So, and I don't know. Bach development bid marathon health clinic limit parking lot. Act on it. Okay. All right. So, Mr. B, did we get a second? Has a motion. I didn't get a second. Second. Blet it. All right. We have a motion and second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Carries unanimously. Uh, M2, same thing. I'll make a motion that we deny M2, the Boach development bid for Marathon Health Clinic. I second that. I

094have a motion to second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion carries unanimously. All right, we'll move into our our board reports. Uh, Miss Wagner, we'll start with you. I do not have much, although I did enjoy the FSBA conference um this past week and was actually very happy. I did not know this was going to happen, but was able to attend a session led by Dr. and Renee Huff from uh about our career tech uh educational programs here in Putnham County. Um it was very interesting and as much as we hear about it up here, it was uh I still learned more about it and a lot of people were very interested in it. I I thought it was extra special that after they were done, the uh representative from Miami basically

095had nothing to add other than their programs are bigger because they have more students. So, um that was kind of a a a proud moment there. And um I also recently saw the um the the drone video at the the new school here in PLA and uh I really liked being able to see that. That's the one that we did we did the walkthrough before, isn't it? Yeah. Yes. And it was nice to see the the changes just since we've been there. It's um looking great and Also, uh just some of the summer programs that I've been seeing. I've been getting a lot of uh emails regarding summer programs that are going on at our various schools. And I just would say, you know, parents that are unaware of these or um are looking for

096things, reach out to your your schools or or the district here because there's so much being offered. Um I've been very surprised, happily surprised in seeing these programs and they'd be great for children. So, anyone looking, I'd say please contact the district. And that's all I got. Well, thank you. All right, Miss Gur. Real quick, uh just always I'm I'm excited when the retirees come uh and for us to show appreciation of their services and and it is important to them. And thank you, um Mrs. Whitehurst. Um just want to commend uh Dr. Spellel, our director of transportation. I was mentioning today the training that she has for her drivers and and the bus aids uh for them to be concerned with our drivers being knowledgeable of the youth mental awareness uh how to deal

097with seizures, stop bleeds, uh all of these things that are there that are being that the drivers are being trained in makes them uh um they've always been beneficial but more Um, give me a word somebody well more beneficial then I guess at at their service that they render because they're the first ones to pick our children up and the last one generally to to put them off and to have this training under their belt is just a great thing. I too saw what Mrs. um Wagner saw the area view of the black elementary. I just it was just phenomenal and great. Um just want to thank and commend Mr. uh Douglas Charlie Douglas on the product of Putnham evening where he hosted and celebrated them and then today's celebration of the workers at Crescent

098City Elementary School. Just a wow to be there to experience that and to see all of those workers there each with their various jobs to have pulled together such uh a great presentation. It's just awesome. That's it, sir. Thank you, ma'am. Mr. welcome. Uh just that just knocked my socks off today to go down and walk through the uh the new school prek to intermediate in Crescent City just absolutely just incredible. U and going back 354 years ago thinking talking in schoolboard meetings like this how nice it would be to have a school right there. It's kind of It's kind of neat. It's not just kind of neat, it is very neat. And uh, of course, I go back in time and I I I think of so many things and that's one reason I

099I kind of get a little testy when I we getting some of these requests. There's never anything wrong with looking at salary schedules. Uh, but I've just been through so many contentious meetings that had ulterior motives involved that it just I don't know, got a bad history of that. And that's part of what you deal with when you're dealing with uh public salaries and stuff like that. Whether somebody can drive a car, they're getting too much gas or not getting gas. Where are they? We've got kids on, you know, school kids on trips around the state right now and all over the place. So, we've got stuff going on. But I will tell you, when you get a chance, you need to go down there and check in at the Crescent City site and tour

100that facility. It is going to be absolutely incredible like the rest of them. I I just blown away. So with that, I just can set up a tour after we advertise, set up a tour for the entire board. I know Miss uh McDaniel is our tour guide. He sets all those up. So, well, that was, you know, it was very nice. Speaking of tours, before I forget, Mr. Superintendent, um Miss Gillard was saying maybe the board could also do a tour of our new uh medical facility, you know, just Sure. Yeah. Yeah. sometime. Well, I keep worrying that Mr. Holmes won't like us doing that if we go without advertising. So, if we go and ride around in a buggy, we need to advertise it, don't we? But the law says that's what the law

101says. Mr. Holmes can say what he wants to. Law says, but I mean that's enough for the same day. Yeah, we got we've got a lot of stuff. He could arrange that. So, we do one advertisement. A lot of stuff going on. I Phil probably has family down in Orlando right now at the egg convention. So, I don't know. I've got some down there and it's we just got to it never stops. Anyway, thank you, Miss Pickings. Um I also attended the summer conference um FSBA and it it the breakout sessions were excellent and yes, it was a proud to be um Putinham County School District when uh Miss Huff got up and Dr. Sy and he also highlighted the entire district and and gave a you know an aerial view and um you know

102just promoting Putinham County and and I thought that was excellent. It was wellreceived. Um there were questions for our staff probably more than the Miami Dade one. Um so that was great. Um, also I went to the keynote um the beginning of the Putinham Nav Summit yesterday. It was incredible. The um George Curose, did I pronounce that right? So I mean I really I told Dr. Cerny I was thinking about going back to teaching after a hair and then I thought about it last night. But anyway um it was just really very um uplifting. It it was excellent. Um and then the topping off this this afternoon was great. Um as I was walking out a former student came up to me and he's been um on the from the very beginning he's been a

103brick layer and I said there's a lot of concrete block here and he said yes ma'am and he said you know I hope he said soon my children will come to this school. Wow. And I thought that was really cool. And then I met a young man who drives from Jacksonville every day with his sister. He's doing some painting and he introduced himself. His name is Samuel. Samuel. And um he's he was very proud of the work that he was doing. But he stopped and talked to me for about five or 10 minutes. And and so just when you're praying, remember Samuel driving back and forth from Jacksonville with his sister. And um other than that, you know, that's that's all I have. Thank you. I I'll just real quickly as your um appointee to

104the uh legislative uh committee for FSBA. Uh the legislature did finally pass a budget. I don't know what time it was last night. I I quit listening to it around 11 o'clock. Um but at any rate, um we fared, you know, fairly well. I mean, uh, considering all the discussion that was happening early in the session, I think, uh, Jonathan, you said our FET was up, uh, a few dollars and and and some other funding that we're overall overall 143 on students. So, uh, I do think that it doesn't keep up with inflation, but at least we're not following further behind. They did pass a $2.9 billion funding for charter schools, direct 2.9 billion. As part of that, there's also legislation where uh charter schools now can establish CTE programs without approval of the district

105school board. Um, I anticipate there'll probably be a lot of charter schools that'll maybe not in our area, but in around the state that'll probably take advantage of that. And, um, other than that, um, I'm still waiting for Chris Dan's final report. I've been reading his budget and policy analysis that goes along. Um, I'll try to do a quick summary, although FSBA's new legislative person did send an email out today. I didn't read it before I came down here. Uh but I would encourage you to at least skim through that. It's something you know look at it. But um you know we're gonna fight this battle for now on. I mean, and and you know, as I you know, talked to other um school representatives, um you know, at least in our area, they're all

106in agreement that um we're going to be fighting this the battle until somehow we we turn turn that tide and and get them to, you know, start really reinvesting in public schools and and giving us the resources and the uh abilities to do what we need to do. So, that's all I have. I will be putting together a bullet point thing for y'all that I'll email email out hopefully next week. All right. Any other questions or discussion come before the board. Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. I just briefly uh we were successful in negotiating um rate for the clinic building that uh the board approved in concept. I think it's a good rate. It's a fixed rate for three years which was different than what the uh less wanted. He wanted the 5% multiplier each year.

107We were successful in negotiating a fixed rate for three years with one 10% increase for the next three years. So, and that will be a fixed rate, a level a level lease amount for those three years, too. So, you'll have a level lease amount for three years, a 10% increment, and then a and that 10% increase rate will be level for another three years. Uh, which is it's better than what was proposed. And I think the determining factor was the less um saw the district as being a a good tenant uh perhaps a longterm tenant if uh they treated you fairly and I think it was uh good. I'll I'll have the written document over here tomorrow. Had hoped to have it earlier but we have had some things going on involving the district but

108I'll have the written less over tomorrow. Very good. And and also the legislature did pass and the governor signed a bill eliminating rental tax. So, we won't be paying any sales tax on our on our rent. So, that's a good thing. All right, Mr. Superintendent, I'm sorry I didn't skip over. Yeah, very briefly, uh, and a lot of this already been said about the topping off ceremony today. Navigate, I just want to highlight, uh, Jonathan Hanky and his team and Lynon Harvey and his team. Uh, you know, putting the navigate summer together. I think tomorrow is the last day. And then um so that was you know very well put together and attended and congratulations to them. Uh reiterate our summer feeding program feeding our students this summer is a priority and the information can

109be found on our Facebook and our website. And again I want to mention the the the meeting coming up on June 26. For the record, on 1:30, we'll have a workshop on school choice. At 2:30, we'll have a work a budget workshop. And then at 3:30, we'll have a special board meeting to approve our new construction management firms. And just a little side note, um Jonathan Odum, myself and uh Chairman Liry signed um signed off on documents today and the official closing will be Friday to pull down our second $100 million of bond money to um complete our first phase and to start on our second phase of construction. And of course, that's the Kelly Smith new build and the Melrose new build for the second phase. Anyway, very exciting time. Six. Rick, I had

110one one additional question. Susan, do we need to get with Susan's not here. Do we need to get with her on the flowers for the funeral the other day? Yeah, I I've already mentioned that and she'll get with you about it. And let me mention Susan. Uh just keep her in your prayers. She had to leave here suddenly. Her daughter is in the hospital and Oh, there's having a difficult time now. I don't want to go into anything but I just want to just keep Susan in your prayers and we'll do it. Yeah. Thank you. She left right before the board meeting I think. So yeah. Okay. Any other discussion by the board? All right. Uh without objection we'll stand ajourned.